The universe, which is not merely the stars and the moon and the planets, flowers, grass and trees, but other people, has evolved no terms for your existence, has made no room for you, and if love will not swing wide the gates, no other power will or can. And if one despairs-- as who has not?-- of human love, God's love alone is left.

The essay was originally publiJames Baldwind in two oversized issues of The New Yorker and landed Baldwin on the cover of Time magazine in 1963 while Baldwin was touring the South speaking about the restive Civil Rights movement. Baldwin also provided her with literary. He became for me an example of courage and integrity humility and passion.

Some Baldwin essays are book-length for instance The Fire Next Time (1963) No Name in the Street (1972) and The Devil Finds Work (1976). Baldwin's best-known novel is his first Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953).