I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh,

Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, Nor songs To the singers.

I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the w… flow of human blood in human veins My soul has grown deep like the ri… I bathed in the Euphrates when da…

He glides so swiftly Back into the grass— Gives me the courtesy of road To let me pass, That I am half ashamed

I play it cool I dig all jive. That's the reason I stay alive. My motto

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…

Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think

Have you dug the spill Of Sugar Hill? Cast your gims On this sepia thrill: Brown sugar lassie,

That Justice is a blind goddess Is a thing to which we black are w… Her bandage hides two festering so… That once perhaps were eyes.

I live on a park bench. You, Park Avenue. Hell of a distance Between us two. I beg a dime for dinner—