Langston Hughes, "Disillusion" (1925)
Simple and clean
Like the earth,
Like the rain,
Nor ever know,
Dark Harlem,
The wild laughter
Of your mirth
Nor the salt tears
Of your pain.
Be kind to me,
Oh, great dark city.
Let me forget.
I will not come
To you again.
Published in The Crisis, December 1925
Also published in The Weary Blues, 1926