I Know My Soul by Claude McKay

March 1, 2015   I Know My Soul   Claude McKay

I plucked my soul out of its secret place, And held it to the mirror of my eye, To see it like a star against the sky, A twitching body quivering in space, A spark of passion shining on my face. And I explored it to determine why This awful key to my infinity Conspires to rob me of sweet joy and grace. And if the sign may not be fully read, If I can comprehend but not control, I need not gloom my days with futile dread, Because I see a part and not the whole. Contemplating the strange, I’m comforted By this narcotic thought: I know my soul.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “I Know My Soul” was published in McKay’s bookHarlem Shadows (Harcourt, Brace and company, 1922).   Claude McKay was born in Jamaica on September 15, 1889. His books include Songs of Jamaica (1912) andA Long Way from Home (1937). He died on May 22, 1948. Photo credit: Carl Van Vechten Poetry by McKay   Complete Poems (University of Illinois Press, 2004) "The Soul selects her own Society (303)" by Emily Dickinson "I Am!" by John Clare "Sympathy" by Edith Franklin Wyatt Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006,Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.