Liberian Literary Magazine
February Issue 0215
I, Too, Sing America
Patting their sleek bodies w ith their hands.
"Well, maybe next time." And they rise,
Glittering like pools of ink under moonlight,
Langston Hughes
I , too, sing America.
And v anish. I clutch at the ragged holes
They leav e behind, here at the edge of
darkness.
Night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat w ell,
And grow strong.
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Tomorrow ,
I 'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
James Weldon Johnson
Lift ev 'ry v oice and sing,
Till earth and hea v en ring,
Ring w ith the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past
has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present
has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till v ictory is w on.
Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed-I , too, am America.
Stony the road w e trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days w hen hope unborn had
died;
Yet w ith a steady beat,
Hav e not our w eary feet
Come to the place for w hich our fathers
sighed?
We hav e come ov er a w ay that w ith tears
has been w atered.
We hav e come, treading our path through
the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now w e stand at last
Where the w hite gleam of our bright star is
cast.
Adolescence II
Rita Dove
Although it is night, I sit in the bathroom,
w aiting.
Sw eat prickles behind my knees, the babybreasts are alert.
Venetian blinds slice up the moon; the tiles
quiv er in pale strips.
Then they come, the three seal men w ith
eyes as round
As dinner plates and eyelashes like
sharpened tines.
They bring the scent of licorice. One sits in
the w ashbow l,
God of our w eary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou w ho hast brought us thus far on the
w ay;
Thou w ho hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forev er in the path, w e pray.
One on the bathtub edge; one leans
against the door.
"Can you feel it yet?" they w hisper.
I don't know w hat to say, again. They
chuckle,
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