African-American History

LANGSTON HUGHES

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MADAM AND THE RENT MAN

The rent man knocked.
He said, Howdy-do?
I said, What
Can I do for you?
He said, You know
Your rent is due.

I said, Listen,
Before I’d pay
I’d go to Hades
And rot away!

The sink is broke,
The water don’t run,
And you ain’t done a thing
You promised to’ve done.

Back window’s cracked,
Kitchen floor squeaks,
There’s rats in the cellar,
And the attic leaks.

He said, Madam,
It’s not up to me.
I’m just the agent,
Don’t you see?

I said, Naturally,
You pass the buck.
If it’s money you want
You’re out of luck.

He said, Madam,
I ain’t pleased!
I said, Neither am I.
So we agrees!
Langston Hughes

37 thoughts on “LANGSTON HUGHES”

  21. Lines To My Father
    The many sow, but only the chosen reap; Happy the wretched host if Day be brief,
    That with the cool oblivion of sleep
    A dawnless Night may soothe the smart of grief.
    If from the soil our sweat enriches sprout One meagre blossom for our hands to cull, Accustomed indigence provokes a shout Of praise that life becomes so bountiful.
    Now ushered regally into your own,
    Look where you will, as far as eye can see, Your little seeds are to a fullness grown, And golden fruit is ripe on every tree.
    Yours is no fairy gift, no heritage
    Without travail, to which weak wills aspire;
    This is a merited and grief-earned wage
    From One Who holds His servants worth their hire.
    So has the shyest of your dreams come true, Built not of sand, but of the solid rock, Impregnable to all that may accrue
    Of elemental rage: storm, stress, and shock.
    Countee Cullen
    http://www.PoemHunter.com – The World’s Poetry Archive

  32. The Heart of a Woman
    BY GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON
    The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,
    As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
    Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam
    In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.

    The heart of a woman falls back with the night,
    And enters some alien cage in its plight,
    And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
    While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.

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