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 would liken you
To a night without stars
Were it not for your eyes.
I would liken you
To a sleep without dreams

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other ni
By the pale dull pallor of an old

Where is the Jim Crow section
On this merry—go—round,
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from
White and colored

Big Boy came
Carrying a mermaid
On his shoulders
And the mermaid
Had her tail

How still,
How strangely still
The water is today,
It is not good
For water

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.

The ivory gods,
And the ebony gods,
And the gods of diamond and jade,
Sit silently on their temple shelv
While the people

Only dumb guys fight.
If I wasn’t dumb
I wouldn’t be fightin’.
I could make six dollars a day
On the docks

I’m all alone in this world, she s
Ain’t got nobody to share my bed,
Ain’t got nobody to hold my hand—
The truth of the matter’s
I ain’t got no man.