One of the very best poets in this author’s opinion, here is a favorite poem from Walter Everette Hawkins. It would be a perfect message for an anniversary card, birthday, Valentine’s Day, or other special day for your beloved wife, girlfriend, or other significant someone in your life.

Wooing

Tell me why you yielded love,
To my simple plea–
Some good grace that you wot of,
You discerned in me?

When I touched your hand, dear child,
Passing thru the glen,
And you glanced at me and smiled–
Did you love me then?

When upon thyself so meek,
A rose I sought to pin–
A sweeter rose bloomed in your cheek–
Did you love me then?

When I filled your goblet up,
Crystal clear and thin;
You left love within my cup–
Did you love me then?

Walter Everette Hawkins was an African American poet, and the author of Chords and Discords, where the above poem was originally published in 1920. The poem is now in the public domain. He wrote other great poems, such as Ask Me Why I Love You, A Spade is Just a Spade, and Here and Hereafter.

Image retrieved from The New York Public Library:
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. (1923). Walter Everette Hawkins. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-1ec8-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Kerlin, Robert Thomas, 1866-1950 (Author)
Collection: Negro poets and their poems
Dates / Origin:
Date Issued: 1923
Place: Washington, D.C.
Publisher: Associated Publishers
Library locations:
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division
Shelf locator: Sc 811.09-K (Kerlin, R. Negro poets and their poems. 1923)
Topics:
African American poets
American poetry — African American authors