That one is good and funny! I like it a lot... keep 'em coming.
Song For A Dark Girl
"Way Down South in Dixie
( Break the heart of me )
They hung my black young lover
To a cross roads tree.
Way Down South in Dixie
( Bruised body high in air )
I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer.
Way Down South in Dixie
( Break the heart of me )
Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled and naked tree.
Song for a Dark Girl
Langston Hughes (1927)
Oh no, not that sad ones. I'm hearing Billie singing 'Strange Fruit.'
Harlem
"Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Harlem
Langston Hughes ( 1951)
Deceased
"Harlem
Sent hime home
In a long box-
Too dead
To know why:
The licker
Was lye".
Langston Hughes
Fairies
"Out of the dust of dreams
Fairies weave their garments.
Out of the purple and rose of old memories
They make rainbow wings.
No wonder we find them such marvellous things"!
Langston Hughes
Winter Sweetness
" This little house is sugar
Its roof with snow is piled,
And from its tiny window
Peeps a maple-sugar child".
Winter Sweetness
Langston Hughes
Faithful One
Though I go drunken
To her door,
I'm ever so sure
She'll let me in.
Though I wander and stray
And wound her sore,
She'll open the latch
When I come again.
No matter what
I do or say,
She waits for me
At the end of day.
Langston Hughes
By chance I read some poems of Langston Hughes today (thanks to Babsemalia) and found link to a short audio file.
Langston Hughes reads from his poetry:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/22/specials/hughes.html#audio
Langston Hughes has written 18 poems for children, numerous screen plays and songs.
I'll be posting some of these in the near future.
SITUATION
When I rolled three 7's
in a row
I was scared to walk out
with the dough.
Langston Hughes
Piggy-Back
My daddy rides me piggy-back.
My mama rides me too.
But grandma says her poor old back
Has had enough to do.
Langston Hughes
( Children's Poetry )
Figurette
De-daddle-dy!
De-dop!
Langston Hughes
Corner Meeting
Ladder, flag, and amplifier:
what the soap box
used to be.
The speaker catches fire
looking at their faces.
His words
jump down to stand
in listeners' places.
Langston Hughes
Wonder
Early blue evening.
Lights ain't come on yet.
Looky yonder!
They come on now!
Langston Hughes
THEME FOR ENGLISH B
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you--
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eight Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
The Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white--
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be part of me.
Not do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--
although you're older--and white--
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
Chord
Shadow faces
In the shadow night
Before the early dawn
Bops bright.
Langston Hughes
I found one I hadn't read before. I really like it.
Sea Calm
How still,
How strangely still
The water is today,
It is not good
For water
To be so still that way.
New Haven
Thanks for this thread.
Although I always liked LH I'm growing to like him more and more.
Keep 'em comin'
