#AmericanWriters
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,
Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
By what sends the white kids I ain’t sent: I know I can’t be President.
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 night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Only dumb guys fight. If I wasn’t dumb I wouldn’t be fightin’. I could make six dollars a day On the docks
The calm, Cool face of the river Asked me for a kiss.
Gather quickly Out of darkness All the songs you know And throw them at the sun Before they melt
I work all day, Said Simple John, Myself a house to buy. I work all day, Said Simple John,
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…
In an envelope marked: PERSONAL God addressed me a letter. In an envelope marked: PERSONAL
I sat there singing her Songs in the dark. She said; 'I do not understand The words’.
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—