Poems by Langston Hughes

There’s a new, young moon riding the hills tonight; There’s a sprightly, young moon exploring the...

I've known rivers:I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blo...

The moon still sends its mellow lightThrough the purple blackness of the night; The morning star ...

Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And spli...

Let America be America again.Let it be the dream it used to be.Let it be the pioneer on the plain...

Clean the spittoons, boy. Detroit, Chicago, Atlantic City, Palm Beach.Clean the spitt...

Oh, silver tree!Oh, shining rivers of the soul!
In a Harlem cabaretSix long-headed jazzers play.A...

My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take ...

I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company come...

Dream-singers, Story-tellers, Dancers, Loud laughers in the hands of Fate— My People. ...

To fling my arms wideIn some place of the sun,To whirl and to danceTill the white day is done.The...

Hold fast to dreams For if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.
Hold fast to dr...

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
O...

Here on the edge of hellStands Harlem—Remembering the old lies, The old kicks in the back,The old...

I worked for a woman,She wasn't mean—But she had a twelve-roomHouse to clean.
Had to get breakfas...