Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
Page 2
Into a thousand smiles,
And the devil licks his chops
Preparing to feast on life,
And all the little devils
Get out their bibs
To devour the corrupt bones
Of this world—
Oh-ooo-oo-o!
Then my friends!
Oh, then! Oh, then!
What will you do?
You will turn back
And look toward the mountains.
You will turn back
And grasp for a straw.
You will holler,
Lord-d-d-d-d-ah!
Save me, Lord!
Save me!
And the Lord will say,
In the days of your greatness
I did not hear your voice!
The Lord will say,
In the days of your richness
I did not see your face!
The Lord will say,
No-oooo-ooo-oo-o!
I will not save you now!
And your soul
Will be lost!
Come into the church this morning,
Brothers and Sisters,
And be saved—
And give freely
In the collection basket
That I who am thy shepherd
Might live.
Amen!
Sinner
Have mercy, Lord!
Po’ an’ black
An’ humble an’ lonesome
An’ a sinner in yo’ sight.
Have mercy, Lord!
Litany
Gather up
In the arms of your pity
The sick, the depraved,
The desperate, the tired,
All the scum
Of our weary city
Gather up
In the arms of your pity.
Gather up
In the arms of your love—
Those who expect
No love from above.
Angels Wings
The angels wings is white as snow,
O, white as snow,
White
as
snow.
The angels wings is white as snow,
But I drug ma wings
In the dirty mire.
O, I drug ma wings
All through the fire.
But the angels wings is white as snow,
White
as
snow.
Judgment Day
They put ma body in the ground,
Ma soul went flyin’ o’ the town,
Went flyin’ to the stars an’ moon
A-shoutin’, God, I’s comin’ soon.
O Jesus!
Lord in heaven,
Crown on His head,
Says don’t be ’fraid
Cause you ain’t dead.
Kind Jesus!
An’ now I’m settin’ clean an’ bright
In the sweet o’ ma Lord’s sight—
Clean an’ bright,
Clean an’ bright.
Prayer Meeting
Glory! Hallelujah!
The dawn’s a-comin’!
Glory! Hallelujah!
The dawn’s a-comin’!
A black old woman croons
In the amen-corner of the
Ebecaneezer Baptist Church.
A black old woman croons—
The dawn’s a-comin’!
Spirituals
Rocks and the firm roots of trees.
The rising shafts of mountains.
Something strong to put my hands on.
Sing, O Lord Jesus!
Song is a strong thing.
I heard my mother singing
When life hurt her:
Gonna ride in my chariot some day!
The branches rise
From the firm roots of trees.
The mountains rise
From the solid lap of earth.
The waves rise
From the dead weight of sea.
Sing, O black mother!
Song is a strong thing.
Tambourines
Tambourines!
Tambourines!
Tambourines
To the glory of God!
Tambourines
To glory!
A gospel shout
And a gospel song:
Life is short
But God is long!
Tambourines!
Tambourines!
Tambourines
To glory!
SHADOW
OF THE
BLUES
The Weary Blues
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway.…
He did a lazy sway.…
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man’s soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—
“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more—
“I got the Weary Blues
And I can’t be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can’t be satisfied—
I ain’t happy no mo’
And I wish that I had died.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.
Hope
Sometimes when I’m lonely,
Don’t know why,
Keep thinkin’ I won’t be lonely
By and by.
Late Last Night
Late last night I
Set on my steps and cried.
Wasn’t nobody gone,
Neither had nobody died.
I was cryin’
Cause you broke my heart in two.
You looked at me cross-eyed
And broke my heart in two—
So I was cryin’
On account of
You!
Bad Morning
Here I sit
With my shoes mismated.
Lawdy-mercy!
I’s frustrated!
Sylvester’s Dying Bed
I woke up this mornin’
’Bout half-past three.
All the womens in town
Was gathered round me.
Sweet gals was a-moanin’,
“Sylvester’s gonna die!�
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And a hundred pretty mamas
Bowed their heads to cry.
I woke up little later
’Bout half-past fo’,
The doctor ‘n’ undertaker’s
Both at ma do’.
Black gals was a-beggin’,
“You can’t leave us here!”
Brown-skins cryin’, “Daddy!
Honey! Baby! Don’t go, dear!”
But I felt ma time’s a-comin’,
And I know’d I’s dyin’ fast.
I seed the River Jerden
A-creepin’ muddy past—
But I’s still Sweet Papa ’Vester,
Yes, sir! Long as life do last!
So I hollers, “Com’ere, babies,
Fo’ to love yo’ daddy right!”
And I reaches up to hug ’em—
When the Lawd put out the light.
Then everything was darkness
In a great … big … night.
Wake
Tell all my mourners
To mourn in red—
Cause there ain’t no sense
In my bein’ dead.
Could Be
Could be Hastings Street,
Or Lenox Avenue,
Could be 18th & Vine
And still be true.
Could be 5th & Mound,
Could be Rampart:
When you pawned my watch
You pawned my heart.
Could be you love me,
Could be that you don’t.
Might be that you’ll come back,
Like as not you won’t.
Hastings Street is weary,
Also Lenox Avenue.
Any place is dreary
Without my watch and you.
Bad Luck Card
Cause you don’t love me
Is awful, awful hard.
Gypsy done showed me
My bad luck card.
There ain’t no good left
In this world for me.
Gypsy done tole me—
Unlucky as can be.
I don’t know what
Po’ weary me can do.
Gypsy says I’d kill my self
If I was you.
Reverie on the Harlem River
Did you ever go down to the river—
Two a.m. midnight by your self?
Sit down by the river
And wonder what you got left?
Did you ever think about your mother?
God bless her, dead and gone!
Did you ever think about your sweetheart
And wish she’d never been born?
Down on the Harlem River:
Two a.m.
Midnight!
By your self!
Lawd, I wish I could die—
But who would miss me if I left?
Morning After
I was so sick last night I
Didn’t hardly know my mind.
So sick last night I
Didn’t know my mind.
I drunk some bad licker that
Almost made me blind.
Had a dream last night I
Thought I was in hell.
I drempt last night I
Thought I was in hell.
Woke up and looked around me—
Babe, your mouth was open like a well.
I said, Baby! Baby!
Please don’t snore so loud.
Baby! Please!
Please don’t snore so loud.
You jest a little bit o’ woman but you
Sound like a great big crowd.
Early Evening Quarrel
Where is that sugar, Hammond,
I sent you this morning to buy?
I say, where is that sugar
I sent you this morning to buy?
Coffee without sugar
Makes a good woman cry.
I ain’t got no sugar, Hattie,
I gambled your dime away.
Ain’t got no sugar, I
Done gambled that dime away.
If yous a wise woman, Hattie,
You ain’t gonna have nothin to say.
I ain’t no wise woman, Hammond.
I am evil and mad.
Ain’t no sense in a good woman
Bein treated so bad.
I don’t treat you bad, Hattie,
Neither does I treat you good.
But I reckon I could treat you
Worser if I would.
Lawd, these things we women
Have to stand!
I wonder is there nowhere a
Do-right man?
Evil
Looks like what drives me crazy
Don’t have no effect on you—
But I’m gonna keep on at it
Till it drives you crazy, too.
As Befits a Man
I don’t mind dying—
But I’d hate to die all alone!
I want a dozen pretty women
To holler, cry, and moan.
I don’t mind dying
But I want my funeral to be fine:
A row of long tall mamas
Fainting, fanning, and crying.
I want a fish-tail hearse
And sixteen fish-tail cars,
A big brass band
And a whole truck load of flowers.
When they let me down,
Down into the clay,
I want the women to holler:
Please don’t take him away!
Ow-ooo-oo-o!
Don’t take daddy away!
SEA
AND
LAND
Havana Dreams
The dream is a cocktail at Sloppy Joe’s—
(Maybe—nobody knows.)
The dream is the road to Batabano.
(But nobody knows if that is so.)
Perhaps the dream is only her face—
Perhaps it’s a fan of silver lace—
Or maybe the dream’s a Vedado rose—
(Quien sabe? Who really knows?)
Catch
Big Boy came
Carrying a mermaid
On his shoulders
And the mermaid
Had her tail
Curved
Beneath his arm.
Being a fisher boy,
He’d found a fish
To carry—
Half fish,
Half girl
To marry.
Water-Front Streets
The spring is not so beautiful there—
But dream ships sail away
To where the spring is wondrous rare
And life is gay.
The spring is not so beautiful there—
But lads put out to sea
Who carry beauties in their hearts
And dreams, like me.
Long Trip
The sea is a wilderness of waves,
A desert of water.
We dip and dive,
Rise and roll,
Hide and are hidden
On the sea.
Day, night,
Night, day,
The sea is a desert of waves,
A wilderness of water.
Seascape
Off the coast of Ireland
As our ship passed by
We saw a line of fishing ships
Etched against the sky.
Off the coast of England
As we rode the foam
We saw an Indian merchantman
Coming home.
Moonlight Night: Carmel
Tonight the waves march
In long ranks
Cutting the darkness
With their silver shanks,
Cut
ting the darkness
And kissing the moon
And beating the land’s
Edge into a swoon.
Heaven
Heaven is
The place where
Happiness is
Everywhere.
Animals
And birds sing—
As does
Everything.
To each stone,
“How-do-you-do?”
Stone answers back,
“Well! And you?”
In Time of Silver Rain
In time of silver rain
The earth
Puts forth new life again,
Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads,
And over all the plain
The wonder spreads
Of life,
Of life,
Of life!
In time of silver rain
The butterflies
Lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth
New leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too,
In time of silver rain
When spring
And life
Are new.
Joy
I went to look for Joy,
Slim, dancing Joy,
Gay, laughing Joy,
Bright-eyed Joy—