#Americans #Blacks
I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn’t, So I jumped in and sank. I came up once and hollered!
Oh, silver tree! Oh, shining rivers of the soul! In a Harlem cabaret Six long—headed jazzers play. A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
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.
When I was home de Sunshine seemed like gold. When I was home de Sunshine seemed like gold. Since I come up North de
I live on a park bench. You, Park Avenue. Hell of a distance Between us two. I beg a dime for dinner—
Being walkers with the dawn and mo… Walkers with the sun and morning, We are not afraid of night, Nor days of gloom, Nor darkness—
Let’s go see Old Abe Sitting in the marble and the moon… Sitting lonely in the marble and t… Quiet for ten thousand centuries,… Quiet for a million, million years…
By what sends the white kids I ain’t sent: I know I can’t be President.
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 catch the pattern Of your silence Before you speak I do not need To hear a word.
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…
Night funeral In Harlem: Where did they get Them two fine cars? Insurance man, he did not pay—
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 got to leave this town. It’s a lonesome place. Got to leave this town cause It’s a lonesome place. A po’, po’ boy can’t
