The Dream Keeper  

Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamers,
Bring me all of your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

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.

I Dream a World

I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom's way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-
Of such I dream, my world!
 

Teacher

Ideals are like the stars,

Always above our reach.

Humbly I tried to learn,

More humbly did I teach.

On all honest virtues

I sought to keep firm hold.

I wanted to be a good man

Though I pinched my soul.

But now I lie beneath cool loam

Forgetting every dream;

And in this narrow bed of earth

No lights gleam.

In this narrow bed of earth

Star-dust never scatters,

And I tremble lest the darkness teach

Me that nothing matters.

   Being Old
 

It's because you are so young--

You do not understand.

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

The Kids in School with Me

When I studied my A-B-C's

And learned arithmetic,

I also learned in public school

What makes America tick:

The kid in front

And the kid behind

And the kid across the aisle,

The Italian kid

And the Polish kid

And the girl with the Irish smile,

The colored kid

And the Spanish kid

And the Russian kid my size,

The Jewish kid

And the Grecian kid

And the girl with the Chinese eyes--

We were a regular Noah's ark,

Every race beneath the sun,

But our motto for graduation was:

One for All and All for One!

The kid in front

And the kid behind

And the kid across from me--

Just American kids together

The kids in school with me.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.