Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
Page 5
But mother and child
Thought it fun.
Homecoming
I went back in the alley
And I opened up my door.
All her clothes was gone:
She wasn’t home no more.
I pulled back the covers,
I made down the bed.
A whole lot of room
Was the only thing I had.
Final Curve
When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself
Then you know that you have turned
All the corners that are left.
Little Green Tree
It looks like to me
My good-time days done past.
Nothin’ in this world
Is due to last.
I used to play
And I played so dog-gone hard.
Now old age has
Dealt my bad-luck card.
I look down the road
And I see a little tree.
A little piece down the road.
I see a little tree.
Them cool green leaves
Is waitin’ to shelter me.
O, little tree!
Crossing
It was that lonely day, folks,
When I walked all by myself.
My friends was all around me
But it was as if they’d left.
I went up on a mountain
In a high cold wind
And the coat that I was wearing
Was mosquito-netting thin.
I went down in the valley
And I crossed an icy stream
And the water I was crossing
Was no water in a dream
And the shoes I was wearing
No protection for that stream.
Then I stood out on a prairie
And as far as I could see
Wasn’t nobody on that prairie
Looked like me.
It was that lonely day, folks,
I walked all by myself:
My friends was right there with me
But was just as if they’d left.
Widow Woman
Oh, that last long ride is a
Ride everybody must take.
Yes, that last long ride’s a
Ride everybody must take.
And that final stop is a
Stop everybody must make.
When they put you in the ground and
They throw dirt in your face,
I say put you in the ground and
Throw dirt in your face,
That’s one time, pretty papa,
You’ll sure stay in your place.
You was a mighty lover and you
Ruled me many years.
A mighty lover, baby, cause you
Ruled me many years—
If I live to be a thousand
I’ll never dry these tears.
I don’t want nobody else and
Don’t nobody else want me.
I say don’t want nobody else
And don’t nobody else want me—
Yet you never can tell when a
Woman like me is free!
LAMENT
OVER
LOVE
Misery
Play the blues for me.
Play the blues for me.
No other music
’Ll ease my misery.
Sing a soothin’ song.
Said a soothin’ song,
Cause the man I love’s done
Done me wrong.
Can’t you understand,
O, understand
A good woman’s cryin’
For a no-good man?
Black gal like me,
Black gal like me
’S got to hear a blues
For her misery.
Ballad of the Fortune Teller
Madam could look in your hand—
Never seen you before—
And tell you more than
You’d want to know.
She could tell you about love,
And money, and such.
And she wouldn’t
Charge you much.
A fellow came one day.
Madam took him in.
She treated him like
He was her kin.
Gave him money to gamble.
She gave him bread,
And let him sleep in her
Walnut bed.
Friends tried to tell her
Dave meant her no good.
Looks like she could’ve knowed it
If she only would.
He mistreated her terrible,
Beat her up bad.
Then went off and left her.
Stole all she had.
She tried to find out
What road he took.
There wasn’t a trace
No way she looked.
That woman who could foresee
What your future meant,
Couldn’t tell, to save her,
Where Dave went.
Cora
I broke my heart this mornin’,
Ain’t got no heart no more.
Next time a man comes near me
Gonna shut an’ lock my door
Cause they treat me mean—
The ones I love.
They always treat me mean.
Down and Out
Baby, if you love me
Help me when I’m down and out
If you love me, baby,
Help me when I’m down and out,
I’m a po’ gal
Nobody gives a damn about.
The credit man’s done took ma clothes
And rent time’s nearly here.
I’d like to buy a straightenin’ comb,
An’ I need a dime fo’ beer.
I need a dime fo’ beer.
Young Gal’s Blues
I’m gonna walk to the graveyard
’Hind ma friend Miss Cora Lee.
Gonna walk to the graveyard
’Hind ma dear friend Cora Lee
Cause when I’m dead some
Body’ll have to walk behind me.
I’m goin’ to the po’ house
To see ma old Aunt Clew.
Goin’ to the po’ house
To see ma old Aunt Clew.
When I’m old an’ ugly
I’ll want to see somebody, too.
The po’ house is lonely
An’ the grave is cold.
O, the po’ house is lonely,
The graveyard grave is cold.
But I’d rather be dead than
To be ugly an’ old.
When love is gone what
Can a young gal do?
When love is gone, O,
What can a young gal do?
Keep on a-lovin’ me, daddy,
Cause I don’t want to be blue.
Ballad of the Girl Whose Name Is Mud
A girl with all that raising,
It’s hard to understand
How she could get in trouble
With a no-good man.
The guy she gave her all to
Dropped her with a thud.
Now amongst decent people,
Dorothy’s name is mud.
But nobody’s seen her shed a tear,
Nor seen her hang her head.
Ain’t even heard her murmur,
Lord, I wish I was dead!
No! The hussy’s telling everybody—
Just as though it was no sin—
That if she had a chance
She’d do it agin’!
Hard Daddy
I went to ma daddy,
Says Daddy I have got the blues.
Went to ma daddy,
Says Daddy I have got the blues.
Ma daddy says, Honey,
Can’t you bring no better news?
I cried on his shoulder but
He turned his back o
n me.
Cried on his shoulder but
He turned his back on me.
He said a woman’s cryin’s
Never gonna bother me.
I wish I had wings to
Fly like the eagle flies.
Wish I had wings to
Fly like the eagle flies.
I’d fly on ma man an’
I’d scratch out both his eyes.
Midwinter Blues
In the middle of the winter,
Snow all over the ground.
In the middle of the winter,
Snow all over the ground—
’Twas the night befo’ Christmas
My good man turned me down.
Don’t know’s I’d mind his goin’
But he left me when the coal was low.
Don’t know’s I’d mind his goin’
But he left when the coal was low.
Now, if a man loves a woman
That ain’t no time to go.
He told me that he loved me
But he must a been tellin’ a lie.
He told me that he loved me.
He must a been tellin’ a lie.
But he’s the only man I’ll
Love till the day I die.
I’m gonna buy me a rose bud
An’ plant it at my back door,
Buy me a rose bud,
Plant it at my back door,
So when I’m dead they won’t need
No flowers from the store.
Little Old Letter
It was yesterday morning
I looked in my box for mail.
The letter that I found there
Made me turn right pale.
Just a little old letter,
Wasn’t even one page long—
But it made me wish
I was in my grave and gone.
I turned it over,
Not a word writ on the back.
I never felt so lonesome
Since I was born black.
Just a pencil and paper,
You don’t need no gun nor knife—
A little old letter
Can take a person’s life.
Lament over Love
I hope my child’ll
Never love a man.
I say I hope my child’ll
Never love a man.
Love can hurt you
Mo’n anything else can.
I’m goin’ down to the river
An’ I ain’t goin’ there to swim;
Down to the river,
Ain’t goin’ there to swim.
My true love’s left me
And I’m goin’ there to think about him.
Love is like whiskey,
Love is like red, red wine.
Love is like whiskey,
Like sweet red wine.
If you want to be happy
You got to love all the time.
I’m goin’ up in a tower
Tall as a tree is tall,
Up in a tower
Tall as a tree is tall.
Gonna think about my man—
And let my fool-self fall.
MAGNOLIA
FLOWERS
Daybreak in Alabama
When I get to be a composer
I’m gonna write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama
And I’m gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew.
I’m gonna put some tall tall trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I’m gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
And red clay earth hands in it
Touching everybody with kind fingers
And touching each other natural as dew
In that dawn of music when I
Get to be a composer
And write about daybreak
In Alabama.
Cross
My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I’m sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I’m gonna die,
Being neither white nor black?
Magnolia Flowers
The quiet fading out of life
In a corner full of ugliness.
I went lookin’ for magnolia flowers
But I didn’t find ’em.
I went lookin’ for magnolia flowers in the dusk
And there was only this corner
Full of ugliness.
’Scuse me,
I didn’t mean to stump ma toe on you, lady.
There ought to be magnolias
Somewhere in this dusk.
’Scuse me,
I didn’t mean to stump ma toe on you.
Mulatto
I am your son, white man!
Georgia dusk
And the turpentine woods.
One of the pillars of the temple fell.
You are my son!
Like hell!
The moon over the turpentine woods.
The Southern night
Full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
What’s a body but a toy?
Juicy bodies
Of nigger wenches
Blue black
Against black fences.
O, you little bastard boy,
What’s a body but a toy?
The scent of pine wood stings the soft night air.
What’s the body of your mother?
Silver moonlight everywhere.
What’s the body of your mother?
Sharp pine scent in the evening air.
A nigger night,
A nigger joy,
A little yellow
Bastard boy.
Naw, you ain’t my brother.
Niggers ain’t my brother.
Not ever.
Niggers ain’t my brother.
The Southern night is full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
O, sweet as earth,
Dusk dark bodies
Give sweet birth
To little yellow bastard boys.
Git on back there in the night,
You ain’t white.
> The bright stars scatter everywhere.
Pine wood scent in the evening air.
A nigger night,
A nigger joy.
I am your son, white man!
A little yellow
Bastard boy.
Southern Mammy Sings
Miss Gardner’s in her garden.
Miss Yardman’s in her yard.
Miss Michaelmas is at de mass
And I am gettin’ tired!
Lawd!
I am gettin’ tired!
The nations they is fightin’
And the nations they done fit.
Sometimes I think that white folks
Ain’t worth a little bit.
No, m’am!
Ain’t worth a little bit.
Last week they lynched a colored boy.
They hung him to a tree.
That colored boy ain’t said a thing
But we all should be free.
Yes, m’am!
We all should be free.
Not meanin’ to be sassy
And not meanin’ to be smart—
But sometimes I think that white folks
Just ain’t got no heart.
No, m’am!
Just ain’t got no heart.