#Americans #Blacks
Harlem Sent him home in a long box— Too dead To know why:
Being walkers with the dawn and mo… Walkers with the sun and morning, We are not afraid of night, Nor days of gloom, Nor darkness—
Gather quickly Out of darkness All the songs you know And throw them at the sun Before they melt
I sat there singing her Songs in the dark. She said; 'I do not understand The words’.
I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind
By what sends the white kids I ain’t sent: I know I can’t be President.
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.
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.
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water
Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think
Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is… (America never was America to me.…
Listen! Dear dream of utter aliveness— Touching my body of utter death— Tell me, O quickly! dream of aliv… The flaming source of your bright…
I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn’t, So I jumped in and sank. I came up once and hollered!
Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, Nor songs To the singers.
To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening