1Leave me and my name
2Just like I am!
3Furthermore, rub out
4That MRS., too-
5I'll have you know
6I'm Madam to you!
MONTAGE OF A DREAM DEFERRED
by Langston Hughes
Dream Boogie
1Good morning, daddy!
2Ain't you heard
3The boogie-woogie rumble
4Of a dream deferred?
5Listen closely;
6You'll hear their feet
7Beating out and beating out a-
8You think
9It's a happy beat?
10Listen to it closely;
11Ain't you heard
12something underneath
13like a-
15Sure,
16I'm happy!
17Take it away!
18Hey, pop!
19Re-bop!
20Mop!
Parade
1Seven ladies
2and seventeen gentlemen
3at the Elks Club Lounge
4planning planning a parade:
5Grand Marshal in his white suit
6will lead it.
7Cadilacs with dignitaries
8will precede it.
9And behind will come
10with band and drum
11on foot... on foot...
12on foot...
13Motorcycle cops,
14white,
15will speed it
16out of sight
17if they can;
18Solid black,
19can't be right.
20Marching... marching...
21marching...
22noon till night...
23I never knew
24that many Negroes
25were on earth,
26did you?
Parade
Children's Rhymes
1When I was a chile we used to play,
2One-two-buckle my shoe!
3and things like that. But now, Lord,
4listen at them little varmints!
5By what sends
6the white kids
7I ain't sent:
8I know I can't
9be President.
10There is two thousand children
11in this block, I do believe!
12What don't bug
13then white kids
14sure bugs me;
15We knows everybody
16ain't free!
Children's Rhymes
17Some of these young ones us cert'ly bad-
18One batted a hard ball right through my window
19and my gold fish et the glass.
20What's written down
21for white folks
22ain't for us a-tall;
23Liberty And Justice-
24Huh-For All.
25Oop-pop-a-da!
26Skee! Daddle-de-do!
27Be-bop!
Sister
1That little Negro's married and got a kid.
2Why does he keep on foolin' around Marie?
3Marie's my sister-not married to me-
4But why does he keep on foolin' around Marie?
5Why don't she get a boy-friend
6I can understand-some decent man?
7Did it ever occur to you, son,
7the reason Marie runs around with trash
7is she wants some cash?
8Don't decent folks have dough?
Sister
9Unfortunately usually no!
10Well, anyway, it don't have to be a married man.
11Did it ever occur to you, boy,
12that a woman does the best she can?
Preference
1I likes a woman
1six or eight and ten years older'n myself.
1I don't fool with these young girls.
1Young girl'll say,
1Daddy, I want so-and-so.
1I needs this, that, and the other.
1But a old woman'll say,
1Honey, what does YOU need?
1I just drawed my money tonight
1and it's all your'n
1That's why I likes a older woman
1who can appreciate me:
1When she conversations you
1it ain't forever, Gimme!
Necessity
1Work?
2I don't have to work.
3I don't have to do nothing
4but eat, drink, stay black, and die.
5This little old furnished room's
6so small I can't whip a cat
7without getting fur in my mouth
8and my landlady's so old
9her features us all run together
10and God knows she sure can overcharge-
11Which is why I reckon I does
12have to work after all.
Question
1Said the lady, Can you do
2what my other man can't do-
3That is
4love me, daddy-
5and feed me, too?
6Figurine
7De-dop!
Buddy
1That kid's my buddy,
2still and yet
3I don't see him much.
4He works downtown for Twelve a week.
5Has to give his mother Ten-
6she says he can have
7the other Two
8to pay his carfare, buy a suit,
9coat, shoes,
10anything he wants out of it.
Juke Box Love Song
1I could take the Harlem night
2and wrap around you,
3Take the neon lights and make a crown,
4Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
5Taxis, subways,
6And for your love song tone their rumble down.
7Take Harlem's heartbeat,
8Make a drumbeat,
9Put it on a record, let it whirl,
10And while we listen to it play,
11Dance with you till day-
12Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.
Ultimatum
1Baby, how come you can't see me
2when I'm paying your bills
3each and every week?
4If you got somebody else,
5tell me-
6else I'll cut you off
7without your rent,
8I mean
9without a cent.
Warning
1Daddy,
2don't let your dog
3curb you!
Croon
1I don't give a damn
2For Alabam'
3Even if it is my home.
New Yorkers
1I was born here,
2that's no lie, he said,
3right here beneath God's sky.
New Yorkers
4I wasn't born here, she said,
5I come-and why?
6Where I come from
7folks work hard
8all their lives
9until they die
10and never own no parts
11of earth nor sky
12So I come up here.
13Now what've I got?
14You!
15She lifted up her lips
16in the dark:
17The same old spark!
Wonder
1Early blue evening.
2Lights ain't come on yet.
3Looky yonder!
4They come on now!
Easy Boogie
1Down in the bass
2That steady beat
3Walking walking walking
4Like marching feet.
Movies
1The Roosevelt, Renaissance, Gem, Alhambra:
2Harlem Laughing in all the wrong places
3at the crocodile tears
4of crocodile art
5that you know
6in your heart
7is crocodile:
8(Hollywood
9laughs at me,
10black--
11so I laugh
12back.)
Tell Me
1Why should it bemyloneliness,
2Why should it bemysong,
3Why should it bemydream
4deferred
5overlong?
Not a Movie
1Well, they rocked him with road-apples
2because he tried to vote
3and whipped his head with clubs
4and he crawled on his knees to his house
5and he got the midnight train
6and he crossed that Dixie line
7now he's livin'
8on a 133rd.
9He didn't stop in Washington
10and he didn't stop in Baltimore
11neither in Newark on the way.
12Six knots was on his head
13but, thank God, he wasn'r dead!
14And there ain't no Ku Klux
15on a 133rd
Neon Signs
1WONDER BAR
2WISHING WELL
3MONTEREY
4MINTON'S
5(ancient altar of Thelonious)
6MANDALAY
7Spots where the booted
8and unbooted play
9SMALL'S
10CASBAH
Neon Signs
11SHALIMAR
12Mirror-go-round
13where a broken glass
14in the early bright
15smears re-bop
16sound
Numbers
1If I ever hit for a dollar
2gonna salt every dime away
3in the Post Office for a rainy day.
4I ain't gonna
5play back a cent.
6(Of course, I might
7combinatea little
8with my rent.)
What? So Soon!
1I believe my old lady's
2pregnant again!
What? So Soon!
3Fate must have
4some kind of trickeration
5to populate the
6cullud nation!
7Comment against Lamp Post
8You call it fate?
9Figurette
10De-daddle-dy!
11De-dop!
Motto
1I play it cool
2And dig all jive.
3That's the reason
4I stay alive.
5My motto,
6As I live and learn,
7is:
8Dig and Be Dug
9In Return
Dead in There
1Sometimes
2A night funeral
3Going by
4Carries home
5A cool bop daddy.
6Hearse and flowers
7Guarantee
8He'll never hype
9Another paddy.
10It's hard to believe,
11But dead in there,
12He'll never lay a
13Hype nowhere!
14He's my ace-boy,
15Gone away.
16Wake up and live!
17He used to say.
18Squares
19Who couldn't dig him,
20Plant him now--
21Out where it makes
22No diff' no how.
Situation
1When I rolled three 7's
2in a row
3I was scared to walk out
4with the dough.
Dancer
1Two or three things in the past
2failed him
3that had not failed people
4of lesser genius.
5In the first place
6he didn't have much sense.
7He was no good at making love
8and no good at making money.
9So he tapped,
10trucked,
11boogied,
12sanded,
13jittered,
14until he made folks say,
15Looky yonder
16at that boy!
15Hey!
16But being no good at lovin'--
17the girls left him.
18(When you're no good for dough they go.)
19With no sense, just wonderful feet,
20What could possibly be all-reet?
21Did he get anywhere? No!
22Even a great dancer
23can't C.P.T.
24a show.
Advice
1Folks, I'm telling you,
2birthing is hard
3and dying is mean--
4so get yourself
5a little loving
6in between.
Green Memory
1A wonderful time--the War:
2when money rolled in
3and blood rolled out.
4But blood
5was far away
4from here--
5Money was near.
Wine-O
1Setting in the wine-house
2Soaking up a wine-souse
3Waiting for tomorrow to come--
4Then
5Setting in the wine-house
6Soaking up a new souse.
7Tomorrow...
8Oh, hum!
Tomorrow
1Tomorrow may be
2a thousand years off
3TWO DIMES AND A NICKLE ONLY
4says this particular
5cigarette machine
Mellow
1Intro the lap
2of black celebrities
3white girls fall
4like pale plums from a tree
5beyond a high tension wall
6which makes it
7more thrilling.
Live and Let Live
1Maybe it ain't right-
2but the people of the night
3will give even
4a snake
5a break.
Gauge
1Hemp . . .
2A stick . .
3A roach . .
4Straw . .
7more thrilling.
Bar
1That whiskey will cook the egg
2say not so
3Maybe the egg
4will cook the whiskey.
5You ought to know!
Cafe: 3 A.M.
1Detectives from the vice squad -
2with weary sadistic eyes
3spotting fairies.
4Degenerates
5Some folks say
6But God,Nature
7or somebody
6made them that way
7Police lady or Lesbian
6over there?
6Where?
Request
1Gimme $25.00
2and the change.
3I'm going
4where the morning
5and the evening
6won't bother me.
Shame on You
1If you're great enough
2and clever enough
3the government might honor you.
4But the people will forget --
5Except on holidays.
1A movie house in Harlem named after Lincoln,
2Nothing at all named after John Brown.
Shame on You
1Black people don't remember
2any better than white
1If you're not alive and kicking,
2shame on you!
World War II
1What a grand time was the war!
2Oh, my, my!
3What a grand time was the war!
4My, my, my!
5In wartime we had fun,
6Sorry that old war is done!
7What a grand time was the war,
8My, my!
1Echo:
2Did
3Somebody
4Die?
Mystery
1When a chile gets to be thirteen
2and ain't seen Christ yet,
3she needs to set on de moaner's bench
4night and day.
Mystery
1Jesus, lover of my soul!
2Hail, Mary, mother of God!
3Let me to thy bosom fly!
4Amen! Hallelujah!
1Swing low, sweet chariot,
2Coming for to carry me home.
1Sunday morning where the rhythm flows,
2how old nobody knows --
3yet old as mystery,
4older than creed,
5basic and wondering
6and lost as my need.
1Eli, eli!
2Te deum!
3Mahomet!
4Christ!
1Father, Bishop, Effendi, Mother Horne.
2Father Drive, a Rabbi black
3as black was born
4a jack-leg preacher, a PH.D.
1The mystery
2and the darkness
3and the song
4and me.
Sliver of Sermon
1When pimps out of loneliness cry:
2Great God!
3Whores in final weariness say:
4Great God!
5Oh, God!
6My God!
Testimonial
1If I just had a piano,
2if I just had a organ,
3if I just had a drum,
4how I could praise my Lord!
1But I don't need no piano,
2neither organ
3nor drum
4for to praise my Lord
Passing
1On sunny summer Sunday afternoons in Harlem
2when the air is one interminable ball game
3and grandma cannot get her gospel hymns
4from the Saints of God in Christ
5on account of the Dodgers on the radio,
Passing
1on sunny Sunday afternoons
2when the kids look all new
3and far too clean to stay that way,
4and Harlem has its
5washed-and-ironed-and-cleaned-best out,
6the ones who've crossed the line
7to live downtown
8miss you,
9Harlem of the bitter dream
10since their dream has
11come true.
Nightmare Boogie
1I had a dream
2and I could see
3a million faces
4black as me!
5A nightmare dream:
6Quicker than light
7All them faces
8Turned dead white|
9Boogie-woogie,
10Rolling bass,
11Whirling treble
12of cat-gut lace.
Sunday by the Combination
1I feel like dancin', baby,
2till the sun goes down.
1But I wonder where
2the sunrise
3Monday morning's gonna be?
1I feel like dancin'!
2Baby, dance with me!
Casualty
1He was a soldier in the army,
2But he doesn't walk like one.
3He walks like his soldiering *
4Days are done.
Night Funeral in Harlem
1Night funeral
2In Harlem:
1Where did they get
2Them two fine cars?
1Insurance man, he did not pay --
2His insurance lapsed the other day --
Brothers
5Kinsmen-you and I,
6You from Africa,
7I from the U.S.A.
8Brother-you and I.
Likewise
2Groceries
3Suits
4Fruits
5Watches
6Diamond rings
7THE DAILY NEWS
8Jews sell me things.
9Yom Kippur, no!
10Shops all over Harlem
11close up tight that night.
11Some folks blame high prices on the Jews.
12(Some folks blame too much on Jews.)
13But in Harlem they don't answer back,
14Just maybe shrug their shoulders,
15"What's the use?"
16What's the use
17in Harlem?
18What's the use?
19What's the Harlem?
20Use in Harlem
Likewise
21Hey!
22Baba-re-bop!
23Mop!
24On a be-bop kick!
25Sometimes I think
26Jews have heard
27the music of a
28dream deferred.
Silver
1Cheap little rhymes
2A cheap little tune
3Are sometimes as dangerous
4As a sliver of the moon.
5A cheap little tune
6To cheap little rhymes
7Can cut a man's
8Throat sometimes.
Hope
1He rose up on his dying bed
2and asked for fish.
3His wife looked it up in her dream book
4and played it.