Selected Poems of Langston Hughes Read online

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 the river,

  Touched silver water,

  Laughed and bathed

  In the sunshine.

  Day

  Became a bright ball of light

  For us to play with,

  Sunset

  A yellow curtain,

  Night

  A velvet screen.

  The moon,

  Like an old grandmother,

  Blessed us with a kiss

  And sleep

  Took us both in

  Laughing.

  Gypsy Melodies

  Songs that break

  And scatter

  Out of the moon:

  Rockets of joy

  Dimmed too soon.

  Mexican Market Woman

  This ancient hag

  Who sits upon the ground

  Selling her scanty wares

  Day in, day round,

  Has known high wind-swept mountains,

  And the sun has made

  Her skin so brown.

  A Black Pierrot

  I am a black Pierrot:

                 She did not love me,

                 So I crept away into the night

                 And the night was black, too.

  I am a black Pierrot:

                 She did not love me,

                 So I wept until the dawn

                 Dripped blood over the eastern hills

                 And my heart was bleeding, too.

  I am a black Pierrot:

                 She did not love me,

                 So with my once gay-colored soul

                 Shrunken like a balloon without air,

                 I went forth in the morning

                 To seek a new brown love.

  Ardella

  I would liken you

  To a night without stars

  Were it not for your eyes.

  I would liken you

  To a sleep without dreams

  Were it not for your songs.

  When Sue Wears Red

  When Susanna Jones wears red

  Her face is like an ancient cameo

  Turned brown by the ages.

  Come with a blast of trumpets,

      Jesus!

  When Susanna Jones wears red

  A queen from some time-dead Egyptian night

  Walks once again.

  Blow trumpets, Jesus!

  And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red

  Burns in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain.

  Sweet silver trumpets,

      Jesus!

  Love

  Love is a wild wonder

  And stars that sing,

  Rocks that burst asunder

  And mountains that take wing.

  John Henry with his hammer

  Makes a little spark.

  That little spark is love

  Dying in the dark.

  Beale Street

  The dream is vague

  And all confused

  With dice and women

  And jazz and booze.

  The dream is vague,

  Without a name,

  Yet warm and wavering

  And sharp as flame.

  The loss

  Of the dream

  Leaves nothing

  The same.

  Port Town

  Hello, sailor boy,

  In from the sea!

  Hello, sailor,

  Come with me!

  Come on drink cognac.

  Rather have wine?

  Come here, I love you.

  Come and be mine.

  Lights, sailor boy,

  Warm, white lights.

  Solid land, kid.

  Wild, white nights.

  Come on, sailor,

  Out o’ the sea.

  Let’s go, sweetie!

  Come with me.

  Natcha

  Natcha, offering love.

  For ten shillings offering love.

  Offering: A night with me, honey.

  A long, sweet night with me.

      Come, drink palm wine.

      Come, drink kisses.

  A long, dream night with me.

  Young Sailor

  He carries

  His own strength

  And his own laughter,

  His own today

  And his own hereafter—

  This strong young sailor

  Of the wide seas.

  What is money for?

  To spend, he says.

  And wine?

  To drink.

  And women?

  To love.

  And today?

  For joy.

  And the green sea

  For strength,

  And the brown land

  For laughter.

  And nothing hereafter.

  Sea Calm

  How still,

  How strangely still

  The water is today.

  It is not good

  For water

  To be so still that way.

  Dream Dust

  Gather out of star-dust

      Earth-dust,

      Cloud-dust,

      Storm-dust,

  And splinters of hail,

  One handful of dream-dust
r />       Not for sale.

  No Regrets

  Out of love,

  No regrets—

  Though the goodness

  Be wasted forever.

  Out of love,

  No regrets—

  Though the return

  Be never.

  Troubled Woman

  She stands

  In the quiet darkness,

  This troubled woman

  Bowed by

  Weariness and pain

  Like an

  Autumn flower

  In the frozen rain,

  Like a

  Wind-blown autumn flower

  That never lifts its head

  Again.

  Island

  Wave of sorrow,

  Do not drown me now:

  I see the island

  Still ahead somehow.

  I see the island

  And its sands are fair:

  Wave of sorrow,

  Take me there.

  DISTANCE

  NOWHERE

  Border Line

  I used to wonder

  About living and dying—

  I think the difference lies

  Between tears and crying.

  I used to wonder

  About here and there—

  I think the distance

  Is nowhere.

  Garden

  Strange

  Distorted blades of grass,

  Strange

  Distorted trees,

  Strange

  Distorted tulips

  On their knees.

  Genius Child

  This is a song for the genius child.

  Sing it softly, for the song is wild.

  Sing it softly as ever you can—

  Lest the song get out of hand.

  Nobody loves a genius child.

  Can you love an eagle,

  Tame or wild?

  Wild or tame,

  Can you love a monster

  Of frightening name?

  Nobody loves a genius child.

  Kill him—and let his soul run wild!

  Strange Hurt

  In times of stormy weather

  She felt queer pain

  That said,

  “You’ll find rain better

  Than shelter from the rain.”

  Days filled with fiery sunshine

  Strange hurt she knew

  That made

  Her seek the burning sunlight

  Rather than the shade.

  In months of snowy winter

  When cozy houses hold,

  She’d break down doors

  To wander naked

  In the cold.

  Suicide’s Note

  The calm,

  Cool face of the river

  Asked me for a kiss.

  End

  There are

  No clocks on the wall,

  And no time,

  No shadows that move

  From dawn to dusk

  Across the floor.

  There is neither light

  Nor dark

  Outside the door.

  There is no door!

  Drum

  Bear in mind

  That death is a drum

  Beating forever

  Till the last worms come

  To answer its call,

  Till the last stars fall,

  Until the last atom

  Is no atom at all,

  Until time is lost

  And there is no air

  And space itself

  Is nothing nowhere,

  Death is a drum,

  A signal drum,

  Calling life

  To come!

  Come!

  Come!

  Personal

  In an envelope marked:

      Personal

  God addressed me a letter.

  In an envelope marked:

      Personal

  I have given my answer.

  Juliet

  Wonder

  And pain

  And terror,

  And sick silly songs

  Of sorrow,

  And the marrow

  Of the bone

  Of life

  Are smeared across

  Her mouth.

  The road

  From Verona

  To Mantova

  Is dusty

  With the drought.

  Desire

  Desire to us

  Was like a double death,

  Swift dying

  Of our mingled breath,

  Evaporation

  Of an unknown strange perfume

  Between us quickly

  In a naked

  Room.

  Vagabonds

  We are the desperate

  Who do not care,

  The hungry

  Who have nowhere

  To eat,

  No place to sleep,

  The tearless

  Who cannot

  Weep.

  One

  Lonely

  As the wind

  On the Lincoln

  Prairies.

  Lonely

  As a bottle of licker

  On a table

  All by itself.

  Desert

  Anybody

  Better than

  Nobody.

  In the barren dusk

  Even the snake

  That spirals

  Terror on the sand—

  Better than nobody

  In this lonely

  Land.

  A House in Taos

  Rain

  Thunder of the Rain God:

      And we three

      Smitten by beauty.

  Thunder of the Rain God:

      And we three

      Weary, weary.

  Thunder of the Rain God:

      And you, she, and I

      Waiting for nothingness.

  Do you understand the stillness

      Of this house

      In Taos

  Under the thunder of the Rain God?

  Sun

  That there should be a barren garden

  About this house in Taos

  Is not so strange,

  But that there should be three barren hearts

  In this one house in Taos—

  Who carries ugly things to show the sun?

  Moon

  Did you ask for the beaten brass of the moon?

  We can buy lovely things with money,

  You, she, and I,

  Yet you seek,

  As though you could keep,

  This unbought loveliness of moon.

  Wind

  Touch our bodies, wind.

  Our bodies are separate, individual things.

  Touch our bodies, wind,

  But blow quickly

  Through the red, white, yellow skins

  Of our bodies

  To the terrible snarl,

  Not mine,

  Not yours,

  Not hers,

  But all one snarl of souls.

  Blow quickly, wind,

  Before we run back

  Into the windlessness—

  With our bodies—

  Into the windlessness

  Of our house in Taos.

  Demand

  Listen!

  Dear dream of utter aliveness—

  Touching my body of utter death—

  Tell me, O quickly! dream of aliveness,

  The flaming source of your bright breath.

  Tell me, O dream of utter aliveness—

  Knowing so well the wind and the sun—

      Where is this light

      Your eyes see forever?

      And what is this wind

      You touch when you run?

  Dream

  Last night
I dreamt

  This most strange dream,

  And everywhere I saw

  What did not seem could ever be:

  You were not there with me!

  Awake,

  I turned

  And touched you

  Asleep,

  Face to the wall.

  I said,

  How dreams

  Can lie!

  But you were not there at all!

  Night: Four Songs

  Night of the two moons

  And the seventeen stars,

  Night of the day before yesterday

  And the day after tomorrow,

  Night of the four songs unsung:

      Sorrow! Sorrow!

      Sorrow! Sorrow!

  Luck

  Sometimes a crumb falls

  From the tables of joy,

  Sometimes a bone

  Is flung.

  To some people

  Love is given,

  To others

  Only heaven.

  Old Walt

  Old Walt Whitman

  Went finding and seeking,

  Finding less than sought

  Seeking more than found,