James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922.
The Heart of a Woman
T
As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam
In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.
And enters some alien cage in its plight,
And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.