The Eyes of My Regret

The Eyes of My Regret

Always at dusk, the same tearless experience,
The same dragging of feet up the same well-worn path
To the same well-worn rock;
The same crimson or gold dropping away of the sun
The same tints, – rose, saffron, violet, lavender, grey
Meeting, mingling, mixing mistily;
Before me the same blue black cedar rising jaggedly to
a point;
Over it, the same slow unlidding of twin stars,
Two eyes, unfathomable, soul-searing,
Watching, watching, watching me;
The same two eyes that draw me forth, against my will
dusk after dusk;
The same two eyes that keep me sitting late into the
night, chin on knees
Keep me there lonely, rigid, tearless, numbly
miserable –
The eyes of my Regret.

By: Angelina Weld Grimke

Angelina Grimke was born February 20th 1805, in South Carolina. Her father was a slave holding judge that became the vice president of the NAACP. Her mother’s was white and her middle class white family opposed her marriage to Angelina’s father, due to him being black. This resulted in Angelina being raised by her father and some of his relatives. Angelina began writing at a very young age and even published some of her poems during the Harlem Renaissance. She wrote 173 poems of which 31 were published. A lot of Angelina’s poems were not published, because she’s an African American woman and her sexuality. Angelina Grimke prided herself in being a lesbian after the death of her father, which at the time homosexuality was frowned upon. Among them were love poems, elegies, poems concerned with racial injustice and black pride, nature poems and poems with the universal themes of life and death. The poem “The Eyes of My Regret,” is my favorite. The mood of the poem is sad and calm. The imagery she provides with her color schemes strengthen the message of the poem and release the deep hidden emotions that are responsible for her regret. This poems flows nicely and provide great details that readers are able to feel the misery she posses.