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Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921)

213

Editor's Note

I've known rivers:

I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
      flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
      went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
      bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.



First published in The Crisis, June 1921
Also published in The Weary Blues, 1926

This page has paths:

  1. Langston Hughes, Poems Published in "The Crisis" 1921-1926 Amardeep Singh
  2. Langston Hughes: Poems, Biography, and Timeline of his early career Amardeep Singh
  3. "Four Lincoln University Poets" (Anthology, 1930) Amardeep Singh
  4. Langston Hughes, "The Weary Blues" (full text) (1926) Amardeep Singh

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  1. Travel, Migration, and Great Migration poetry Amardeep Singh

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