African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Langston Hughes, "Minstrel Man" (1925)

Because my mouth 
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think 
I suffer after 
I have held my pain 
So long. 

Because my mouth 
Is wide with laughter, 
You do not hear
My inner cry, 
Because my feet 
Are gay with dancing, 
You do not know 
I die. 

Published in The Crisis, December 1925
 

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