Free Selected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes Page A

Avenue
    That long black hearse done sped,
                             The street light
                             At his corner
                             Shined just like a tear—
    That boy that they was mournin’
    Was so dear, so dear
    To them folks that brought the flowers,
    To that girl who paid the preacher man—
    It was all their tears that made
                             That poor boy’s
                             Funeral grand.
                             Night funeral
                             In Harlem.
Blues at Dawn
    I don’t dare start thinking in the morning.
    I don’t dare start thinking in the morning.
        If I thought thoughts in bed,
        Them thoughts would bust my head—
    So I don’t dare start thinking in the morning.
    I don’t dare remember in the morning
    Don’t dare remember in the morning.
        If I recall the day before,
        I wouldn’t get up no more—
    So I don’t dare remember in the morning.
Dime
    Chile, these steps is hard to climb.
        
Grandma, lend me a dime
.
    Montage of a dream deferred:
        
Grandma acts like
        
She ain’t heard
.
    Chile, Granny ain’t got no dime.
        
I might’ve knowed
        
It all the time
.
Argument
    White is right,
    Yellow mellow,
    Black, get back!
        
Do you believe that, Jack?
    Sure do!
        
Then you’re a dope
        
for which there ain’t no hope
.
        
Black is fine!
        
And, God knows
,
        
It’s mine!
Neighbor
    Down home
    he sets on a stoop
    and watches the sun go by.
    In Harlem
    when his work is done
    he sets in a bar with a beer.
    He looks taller than he is
    and younger than he ain’t.
    He looks darker than he is, too.
    And he’s smarter than he looks,
        
He ain’t smart
.
        
That cat’s a fool
.
    Naw, he ain’t neither.
    He’s a good man,
    except that he talks too much.
    In fact, he’s a great cat.
    But when he drinks,
    he drinks fast.
        
Sometimes
        
he don’t drink
.
    True,
    he just
    lets his glass
    set there.
Evening Song
    A woman standing in the doorway
    Trying to make her where-with-all:
    Come here, baby, darlin’!
    Don’t you hear me call?
    If I was anybody’s sister,
    I’d tell her, Gimme a place to sleep
.
    But I ain’t nobody’s sister.
    I’m just a poor lost sheep.
    Mary, Mary, Mary,
    Had a little lamb.
    Well, I hope that lamb of Mary’s
    Don’t turn out like I am.
Chord
    Shadow faces
    In the shadow night
    Before the early dawn
    Bops bright.
Fact
    There’s been an eagle on a nickel,
    An eagle on a quarter, too.
    But there ain’t no eagle
    On a dime.
Joe Louis
    They worshipped Joe.
    A school teacher
    whose hair was gray
    said:
        
Joe has sense enough to know
        
He is a god
.
        
So many gods don’t know
.
    “They say”…“They say”…“They say”…
    But the gossips had no
    “They say”
    to latch onto
    for Joe.
Subway Rush Hour
    Mingled
    breath and smell
    so close
    mingled
    black and white
    so near
    no room for fear.
Brothers
    We’re related—you and I,
    You from the West Indies,
    I from Kentucky.
    Kinsmen—you and I,
    You from Africa,
    I from the U.S.A.
    Brothers—you and I.
Likewise
    The Jews:
        Groceries
        Suits
        Fruits
        Watches
        Diamond rings
        THE DAILY NEWS
    Jews sell me things.
    Yom Kippur, no!
    Shops all over Harlem
    close up tight that night.
    Some folks blame high prices on the Jews.
    (Some folks blame too much on Jews.)
    But in Harlem they don’t answer back,
    Just maybe shrug