#AmericanWriters
The census man, The day he came round, Wanted my name To put it down. I said, Johnson,
I was so sick last night I Didn’t hardly know my mind. So sick last night I Didn’t know my mind. I drunk some bad licker that
Harlem Sent him home in a long box— Too dead To know why:
I live on a park bench. You, Park Avenue. Hell of a distance Between us two. I beg a dime for dinner—
God in His infinite wisdom Did not make me very wise— So when my actions are stupid They hardly take God by surprise
I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the w… My soul has grown deep like the ri… I bathed in the Euphrates when da… I built my hut near the Congo and…
I sat there singing her Songs in the dark. She said; 'I do not understand The words’.
been scared and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between 'em they done
The ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond and jade, Sit silently on their temple shelv… While the people
Children, I come back today To tell you a story of the long da… That I had to climb, that I had t… In order that the race might live… Look at my face —dark as the night…
I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh,
When Susanna Jones wears red her face is like an ancient cameo Turned brown by the ages. Come with a blast of trumphets, J… When Susanna Jones wears red
We passed their graves: The dead men there, Winners or losers, Did not care. In the dark
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
I am God— Without one friend, Alone in my purity World without end. Below me young lovers