Dream Variations by Langston Hughes
Dream Variations
Langston HughesTo fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me—
That is my dream!To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
““The ultimate book for both the dabbler and serious scholar–. [Hughes] is sumptuous and sharp, playful and sparse, grounded in an earthy music–. This book is a glorious revelation.”–Boston Globe
Spanning five decades and comprising 868 poems (nearly 300 of which have never before appeared in book form), this magnificent volume is the definitive sampling of a writer who has been called the poet laureate of African America–and perhaps our greatest popular poet since Walt Whitman. Here, for the first time, are all the poems that Langston Hughes published during his lifetime, arranged in the general order in which he wrote them and annotated by Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel.
Alongside such famous works as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and Montage of a Dream Deferred, The Collected Poems includes the author’s lesser-known verse for children; topical poems distributed through the Associated Negro Press; and poems such as “Goodbye Christ” that were once suppressed. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, the result is a treasure of a book, the essential collection of a poet whose words have entered our common language.” (Source)
ABOUT LANGSTON HUGHES
James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1901, in Joplin, Missouri. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D.C. Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926 with an introduction by Harlem Renaissance arts patron Carl Van Vechten. Criticism of the book from the time varied, with some praising the arrival of a significant new voice in poetry, while others dismissed Hughes’s debut collection. In 1930 his first novel, Not… (more)
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ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: nature • identity • joy • Or browse the index
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