African American Poetry (1870-1928): A Digital Anthology

Langston Hughes, "Boy on Beale Street" (1928)

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,—

And the loss of the dream
Leaves nothing the same. 


Published in Carolina Magazine, May 1928

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