| James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922. |
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| Turn Me to My Yellow Leaves |
| | | William Stanley Braithwaite |
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| TURN me to my yellow leaves, | |
| I am better satisfied; | |
| There is something in me grieves— | |
| That was never born, and died. | |
| Let me be a scarlet flame | 5 |
| On a windy autumn morn, | |
| I who never had a name, | |
| Nor from breathing image born. | |
| From the margin let me fall | |
| Where the farthest stars sink down, | 10 |
| And the void consumes me,—all | |
| In nothingness to drown. | |
| Let me dream my dream entire, | |
| Withered as an autumn leaf— | |
| Let me have my vain desire, | 15 |
| Vain—as it is brief. | |
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