#AmericanWriters
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.
The calm, Cool face of the river Asked me for a kiss.
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 could take the Harlem night and wrap around you, Take the neon lights and make a cr… Take the Lenox Avenue busses, Taxis, subways,
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 would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams
In the Quarter of the Negroes Where the doors are doors of paper Dust of dingy atoms Blows a scratchy sound. Amorphous jack—o’—Lanterns caper
By what sends the white kids I ain’t sent: I know I can’t be President.
I catch the pattern Of your silence Before you speak I do not need To hear a word.
Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think
I play it cool I dig all jive. That's the reason I stay alive. My motto
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water
The census man, The day he came round, Wanted my name To put it down. I said, Johnson,
The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, is the sun.
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.…