#AmericanWriters
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…
I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind
Remember The days of bondage— And remembering— Do not stand still. Go to the highest hill
The ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond and jade, Sit silently on their temple shelv… While the people
Here I sit With my shoes mismated. Lawdy—mercy! I’s frustrated!
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
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.…
Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal… It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up,
From Christ to Ghandi Appears this truth— St. Francis of Assisi Proves it, too: Goodness becomes grandeur
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,
Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think
Clean the spittoons, boy. Detroit, Chicago, Atlantic City, Palm Beach.
I sat there singing her Songs in the dark. She said; 'I do not understand The words’.
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 catch the pattern Of your silence Before you speak I do not need To hear a word.