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The South The lazy, laughing South
With blood in it’s mouth
The suny-faced South
Beast-strong,
Idiot-brained.
The child-minded South
Scratching in the dead fire’s ashes
For a Negro’s bones.
Cotton and the moon,
Warmth, earth, warmth,
The sky, the sun, the stars,
The magnolia-scented South.
Beautiful, like a woman,
Seductive as a dark-eyed whore,
Passionate, cruel,
Honey-lipped, syphilitic -
That is the South.
An I, who am black, would love her
But she spits in my face,
And I, who am black,
Would give her many rare gifts
But she turns upon me.
So now I seek the North -
The cold-faced North,
For she, they say,
Is a kinder mistress,
And in her house my children
May escape the spell of the South. |
I, Too
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed -
I, too, am America. |
As I Grew Older It was a long time ago,
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But is was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like the sun -
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose slowly, slowly,
Dimming,
Hiding,
The light of my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky -
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun! |
