#Americans #Blacks
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…
You say I O.K.ed LONG DISTANCE? O.K.ed it when? My goodness, Central That was then!
Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie—woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Listen closely:
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
The census man, The day he came round, Wanted my name To put it down. I said, Johnson,
He glides so swiftly Back into the grass— Gives me the courtesy of road To let me pass, That I am half ashamed
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.
You and your whole race. Look down upon the town in which y… And be ashamed. Look down upon white folks And upon yourselves
I could take the Harlem night and wrap around you, Take the neon lights and make a cr… Take the Lenox Avenue busses, Taxis, subways,
I live on a park bench. You, Park Avenue. Hell of a distance Between us two. I beg a dime for dinner—
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,
By what sends the white kids I ain’t sent: I know I can’t be President.
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.
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
The ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond and jade, Sit silently on their temple shelv… While the people