#AmericanWriters
I would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water
It’s such a Bore Being always Poor.
You say I O.K.ed LONG DISTANCE? O.K.ed it when? My goodness, Central That was then!
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow… I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other ni… By the pale dull pallor of an old…
Where is the Jim Crow section On this merry—go—round, Mister, cause I want to ride? Down South where I come from White and colored
Have you dug the spill Of Sugar Hill? Cast your gims On this sepia thrill: Brown sugar lassie,
I live on a park bench. You, Park Avenue. Hell of a distance Between us two. I beg a dime for dinner—
Love Is a ripe plum Growing on a purple tree. Taste it once And the spell of its enchantment
Landlord, landlord, My roof has sprung a leak. Don’t you 'member I told you abou… Way last week? Landlord, landlord,
Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie—woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Listen closely:
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, is the sun.
I work all day, Said Simple John, Myself a house to buy. I work all day, Said Simple John,
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams