Thursday, February 5, 2009

Being Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world
and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom
turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

2 comments:

Opaque said...

Loved every line in there. A good post!!!

Judith Ellis said...

Langston Hughes is one of my all-time favorite poets. His lines are so full, so whole, so universal, so embraceable. They speak to the human condition, expressing reality, giving hope and creating wonder.