Langston Hughes Poems

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
...

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
...

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
...

Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
...

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
...

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
...

My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
...

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
...

The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
...

Children, I come back today
To tell you a story of the long dark way
That I had to climb, that I had to know
In order that the race might live and grow.
...