I, Too

"I, Too"

-Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the ktichen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Hughes, Langston.  Vintage Hughes.  (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), 12.

Freedom's Plow

"Freedom's Plow"

-Langston Hughes

Great poem.  I stumbled across it about a week ago in my (highly) edited Hughes collection, and if it didn't violate fair use standards, I'd post it all here--it's really speaking to me.  Here's a particularly apt quote for contemporary times:  

Thus the dream became not one man's dream alone,

But a community dream.

Not my dream alone, but our dream.

Not my world alone,

But your world and my world,

Belong to all the hands who build.

47 days to go.