This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
NEGRO YOUTH SPEAKS
143

SONG

Lovely, dark, and lonely one,
Bare your bosom to the sun,
Do not be afraid of light
You who are a child of night.

Open wide your arms to life,
Whirl in the wind of pain and strife,
Face the wall with the dark closed gate,
Beat with bare, brown fists
And wait.
-Langston Hughes.

DREAM VARIATION

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the bright day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes gently
Dark like me.
That is my dream.
To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun.
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till quick day is don
Rest at pale evening,
A tall, slim tree,
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

-Langston Hughes.