#AmericanWriters
Big Boy came Carrying a mermaid On his shoulders And the mermaid Had her tail
Goin’ down the road, Lawd, Goin’ down the road. Down the road, Lawd, Way, way down the road. Got to find somebody
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 take my dreams and make of them… and a round fountain with a beauti… And a song with a broken heart and… Do you understand my dreams? Sometimes you say you do,
How quiet It is in this sick room Where on the bed A silent woman lies between two lo… Life and Death,
I woke up this mornin’ ’Bout half-past three. All the womens in town Was gathered round me. Sweet gals was a-moanin’,
I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh,
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
I would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams
I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind
In places like Selma, Alabama, Kids say, In places like Chicago and New York...
I am your son, white man! Georgia dusk And the turpentine woods. One of the pillars of the temple f… You are my son!
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…
In the Quarter of the Negroes Where the doors are doors of paper Dust of dingy atoms Blows a scratchy sound. Amorphous jack—o’—Lanterns caper
Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie—woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Listen closely: