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Langston Hughes, "Silhouette":
Southern gentle lady,
Do not swoon.
They've just hung a black man
In the dark of the moon.
They've hung a black man
To a roadside tree
In the dark of the moon
For the world to see
How Dixie protects
Its white womanhood.
Southern gentle lady,
Be good!
Be good!
Langston Hughes, "Flight"
Plant your toes in the cool swamp mud.
Step and leave no track.
Hurry, sweating runner!
The hounds are at your back.
No, I didn't touch her.
White flesh ain't for me.
Hurry, black boy, hurry!
Or they'll swing you to a tree.
Langston Hughes, "Lynching Song":
Pull at the rope!
O, pull it high!
Let the white folks live
And the black boy die.
Pull it, boys,
With a bloody cry.
Let the black boy spin
While the white folks die.
The white folks die?
What do you mean--
The white folks die?
That black boy's
Still body
Says:
NOT I.
Langston Hughes, "Mulatto"
I am your son, white man!
Georgia dusk
And the turpentine woods.
One of the pillars of the temple fell.
You are my son!
Like hell!
The moon over the turpentine woods.
The Southern night
Full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
What's a body but a toy?
Juicy bodies
Of nigger wenches
Blue black
Against black fences.
O, you little bastard boy,
What's a body but a toy?
The scent of pine wood stings the soft night air.
What's the body of your mother?
Silver moonlight everywhere.
What's the body of your mother?
Sharp pine scent in the evening air.
A nigger night,
A nigger joy,
A little yellow
Bastard boy.
Naw, you ain't my brother.
Niggers ain't my brother.
Not ever.
Niggers ain't my brother.
The Southern night is full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
O, sweet as earth,
Dusk dark bodies
Give sweet birth
To little yellow bastard boys.
Git on back there in the night,
You ain't white.
The bright stars scatter everywhere.
Pine wood scent in the evening air.
A nigger night,
A nigger joy.
I am your son, white man!
A little yellow
Bastard boy.
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