#Americans #Blacks
I look at the world From awakening eyes in a black fac… And this is what I see: This fenced—off narrow space Assigned to me.
When I was home de Sunshine seemed like gold. When I was home de Sunshine seemed like gold. Since I come up North de
I would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams
Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think
Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true. I wonder if it’s that simple?
I woke up this mornin’ ’Bout half-past three. All the womens in town Was gathered round me. Sweet gals was a-moanin’,
Night funeral In Harlem: Where did they get Them two fine cars? Insurance man, he did not pay—
Big Boy came Carrying a mermaid On his shoulders And the mermaid Had her tail
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow… I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other ni… By the pale dull pallor of an old…
I’m all alone in this world, she s… Ain’t got nobody to share my bed, Ain’t got nobody to hold my hand— The truth of the matter’s I ain’t got no man.
God in His infinite wisdom Did not make me very wise— So when my actions are stupid They hardly take God by surprise
He glides so swiftly Back into the grass— Gives me the courtesy of road To let me pass, That I am half ashamed
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams
And that is what poetry may do, wrap up your dreams, protect and preserve and hold them until maybe they come true. Columbus dreamed of finding a new world, he found it. Edison dreamed ...
When the old junk man Death Comes to gather up our bodies And toss them into the sack of obl… I wonder if he will find The corpse of a white multi—millio…