African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Langston Hughes, "Prayer for a Winter Night" (1924)

Prayer for a Winter Night

O, Great God of Cold and Winter,
Wrap the earth about in an icy blanket
And freeze the poor in their beds.
All those who haven't enough cover
To keep them warm,
Nor food enough to keep them strong—
Freeze, dear God.
Let their limbs grow stiff
And their hearts cease to beat,
Then tomorrow
They'll wake up in some rich kingdom of nowhere
Where nothingness is everything and
Everything is nothingness.


Published in The Messenger, May 1924

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