Langston Hughes, "Summer Night" (1925)
Of the Harlem night
Drop one by one into stillness.
The last player -piano is closed.
The last victrola ceases with the
"Jazz Boy Blues.”
The last crying baby sleeps
And the night becomes
Still as a whispering heartbeat.
I toss
Without rest in the darkness,
Weary as the tired night,
My soul
Empty as the silence,
Empty with a vague,
Aching emptiness,
Desiring,
Needing someone,
Something.
I toss without rest
In the darkness
Until the new dawn,
Wan and pale,
Descends like a white mist
Into the court-yard.
Published in The Crisis, December 1925
Also published in The Weary Blues, 1926
This page has paths:
- Langston Hughes: Poems, Biography, and Timeline of his early career Amardeep Singh
- Langston Hughes, "The Weary Blues" (full text) (1926) Amardeep Singh