Selected Poems of Langston Hughes Read Free

big brass band
    And a whole truck load of flowers.
    When they let me down,
    Down into the clay,
    I want the women to holler:
    Please don’t take him away!
        
Ow-ooo-oo-o!
    Don’t take daddy away!

SEA
AND
LAND
Havana Dreams
    The dream is a cocktail at Sloppy Joe’s—
    (Maybe—nobody knows.)
    The dream is the road to Batabano.
    (But nobody knows if that is so.)
    Perhaps the dream is only her face—
    Perhaps it’s a fan of silver lace—
    Or maybe the dream’s a Vedado rose—
    (Quien sabe?
Who really knows?)
Catch
    Big Boy came
    Carrying a mermaid
    On his shoulders
    And the mermaid
    Had her tail
    Curved
    Beneath his arm.
    Being a fisher boy,
    He’d found a fish
    To carry—
    Half fish,
    Half girl
    To marry.
Water-Front Streets
    The spring is not so beautiful there—
        But dream ships sail away
    To where the spring is wondrous rare
        And life is gay.
    The spring is not so beautiful there—
        But lads put out to sea
    Who carry beauties in their hearts
        And dreams, like me.
Long Trip
    The sea is a wilderness of waves,
    A desert of water.
    We dip and dive,
    Rise and roll,
    Hide and are hidden
    On the sea.
        Day, night,
        Night, day,
    The sea is a desert of waves,
    A wilderness of water.
Seascape
    Off the coast of Ireland
        As our ship passed by
    We saw a line of fishing ships
        Etched against the sky.
    Off the coast of England
        As we rode the foam
    We saw an Indian merchantman
        Coming home.
Moonlight Night: Carmel
    Tonight the waves march
    In long ranks
    Cutting the darkness
    With their silver shanks,
    Cutting the darkness
    And kissing the moon
    And beating the land’s
    Edge into a swoon.
Heaven
    Heaven is
    The place where
    Happiness is
    Everywhere.
    Animals
    And birds sing—
    As does
    Everything.
    To each stone,
    “How-do-you-do?”
    Stone answers back,
    “Well! And you?”
In Time of Silver Rain
    In time of silver rain
    The earth
    Puts forth new life again,
    Green grasses grow
    And flowers lift their heads,
    And over all the plain
    The wonder spreads
        Of life,
        Of life,
        Of life!
    In time of silver rain
    The butterflies
    Lift silken wings
    To catch a rainbow cry,
    And trees put forth
    New leaves to sing
    In joy beneath the sky
    As down the roadway
    Passing boys and girls
    Go singing, too,
    In time of silver rain
        When spring
        And life
        Are new.
Joy
    I went to look for Joy,
    Slim, dancing Joy,
    Gay, laughing Joy,
    Bright-eyed Joy—
    And I found her
    Driving the butcher’s cart
    In the arms of the butcher boy!
    Such company, such company,
    As keeps this young nymph, Joy!
Winter Moon
    How thin and sharp is the moon tonight!
    How thin and sharp and ghostly white
    Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!
Snail
    Little snail,
    Dreaming you go.
    Weather and rose
    Is all you know.
    Weather and rose
    Is all you see,
    Drinking
    The dewdrop’s
    Mystery.
March Moon
    The moon is naked.
    The wind has undressed the moon.
    The wind has blown all the cloud-garments
    Off the body of the moon
    And now she’s naked,
    Stark naked.
    But why don’t you blush,
    O shameless moon?
    Don’t you know
    It isn’t nice to be naked?
Harlem Night Song
    Come,
    Let us roam the night together
    Singing.
    I love you.
    Across
    The Harlem roof-tops
    Moon is shining.
    Night sky is blue.
    Stars are great drops
    Of golden dew.
    Down the street
    A band is playing.
    I love you.
    Come,
    Let us roam the night together
    Singing.
To Artina
    I will take your heart.
    I will take your soul out of your body
    As though I were God.
    I will not be satisfied
    With the little words you say to me.
    I will not be satisfied
    With the touch of your hand
    Nor the sweet of your lips alone.
    I will take your heart for mine.
    I will take your soul.
    I will be God when it comes to you.
Fulfilment
    The earth-meaning
    Like the sky-meaning
    Was fulfilled.
    We got up
    And went to