Langston Hughes, "Song (Lovely, Dark, and Lonely One...)" (1925)
Bare your bosom to the sun,
Do not be afraid of light
You who are a child of night.
Open wide your arms to life,
Whirl in the wind of pain and strife,
Face the wall with the dark closed gate,
Beat with bare, brown fists
And wait.
Published in Survey Graphic, March 1925
Also published in The New Negro: an Interpretation, 1925