In The Poetry

Many of my poems have been about the history of the Negro people. In this poem, ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’, I try to link, in terms of the rivers we have known, Africa, the land of our ancestors, and America, our land today.

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.