What happens to a dream deferred?

And with your pious faces.And your wide, out-stretched,mock-welcome, Christian hands.While underneathIs dirt and ugliness,And rotting hearts,And wild hyenas howlingIn you soul’s wasteland.

Where on the bedA silent woman lies between two lovers-Life and Death,And all three covered with a sheet of pain.

LISTEN HUNGRY ONES!Look! See what Vanity Fair says about thenew Waldorf-Astoria:‘All the luxuries of private home. . . .’Now, won’t that be charming when the last flop-househas turned you down this winter?Furthermore:‘It is far beyond anything hitherto attempted in the hotelworld. . . .’ It cost twenty-eight million dollars. The fa-mous Oscar Tschirky is in…

They hung my black young loverTo a cross roads tree.Way Down South in Dixie(Bruised body high in air)I asked the white Lord JesusWhat was the use of prayer.Way Down South in Dixie(Break the heart of me)Love is a naked shadowOn a gnarled and naked tree.

You and your whole race.Look down upon the town in which you liveAnd be ashamed.Look down upon white folksAnd upon yourselvesAnd be ashamedThat such supine poverty exists there,That such stupid ignorance breeds children thereBehind such humble shelters of despair—That you yourselves have not the sense to careNor the manhood to stand up and sayI dare…

in a long box-Too deadTo know why:The lickerWas lye.

Winners or losers,Did not care.In the darkThey could not seeWho had gainedThe victory.

I wouldn’t be fightin’.I could make six dollars a dayOn the docksAnd I’d save more than I do now.Only dumb guys fight.

You and your whole race.Look down upon the town in which you liveAnd be ashamed.Look down upon white folksAnd upon yourselvesAnd be ashamedThat such supine poverty exists there,That such stupid ignorance breeds children thereBehind such humble shelters of despair—That you yourselves have not the sense to careNor the manhood to stand up and sayI dare…

Walking walking walkingLike marching feet.Down in the bassThey easy roll,Rolling like I like itIn my soul.Riffs, smears, breaks.Hey, Lawdy Mama!Do you hear what I said?Easy like I rock itIn my bed!

Dust of dingy atomsBlows a scratchy sound.Amorphous jack-o’-Lanterns caperAnd the wind won’t wait for midnightFor fun to blow doors down.By the river and the railroadWith fluid far-off goindBoundaries bind unbindingA whirl of whisteles blowing.No trains or steamboats going–Yet Leontyne’s unpacking.In the Quarter of the NegroesWhere the doorknob lets in LiederMore than German ever bore,Her yesterday…

But it was there then,In front of me,Bright like a sun—My dream.And then the wall rose,Rose slowly,Slowly,Between me and 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…