#AmericanWriters
Gather quickly Out of darkness All the songs you know And throw them at the sun Before they melt
When a man starts out with nothing… When a man starts out with his han… Empty, but clean, When a man starts to build a world… He starts first with himself
I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its paths adorn I dream a world where all
You and your whole race. Look down upon the town in which y… And be ashamed. Look down upon white folks And upon yourselves
Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think
I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh,
Harlem Sent him home in a long box— Too dead To know why:
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
I am your son, white man! Georgia dusk And the turpentine woods. One of the pillars of the temple f… You are my son!
Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, Nor songs To the singers.
Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear. I have as much right
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…
How quiet It is in this sick room Where on the bed A silent woman lies between two lo… Life and Death,
He glides so swiftly Back into the grass— Gives me the courtesy of road To let me pass, That I am half ashamed
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water