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Joined: May 2010
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Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
My nephew put this up on FB and I thought I would share it here. It's a lovely poem. You can hear Langston Hughes reading the poem.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

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

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
....went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
....bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

--Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 - May 22, 1967)

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Joined: Jun 2007
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Parakeet
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Parakeet
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Hi, Mona--

That Hughes poem is one of my all time favorites. I have a commentary on it at Langston Hughes' Cosmic Voice.

Thank you for sharing and celebrating that wonderful poem and the fabulous poet, Langston Hughes.


Blessings,
Linda Sue Grimes
Maya Shedd's Temple
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
I enjoyed reading your commentary on the poem. On the sound file to which I linked Hughes said he wrote the poem soon out of high school. I was suprised that such a young man had written such a mature poem.

Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,123
Parakeet
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Parakeet
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Yes, I've always marveled at too. I think it is his best poem and that he was so young when he wrote it is quite amazing.


Blessings,
Linda Sue Grimes
Maya Shedd's Temple

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