Dream Variations

To fling my arms wideIn some place of the sun,To whirl and to danceTill the white day is done.Then rest at cool eveningBeneath a tall treeWhile night comes on gently,Dark like me-That is my dream!To fling my arms wideIn the face of the sun,Dance! Whirl! Whirl!Till the quick day is done.Rest at pale evening...A tall, slim tree...Night coming tenderlyBlack like me.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.

Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a soreand then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar overlike a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

I Dream A World

I dream a world where manNo other man will scorn,Where love will bless the earthAnd peace its paths adornI dream a world where allWill know sweet freedom's way,Where greed no longer saps the soulNor avarice blights our day.A world I dream where black or white,Whatever race you be,Will share the bounties of the earthAnd every man is free,Where wretchedness will hang its headAnd joy, like a pearl,Attends the needs of all mankind-Of such I dream, my world!

As I Grew Older

It was a long time ago.I have almost forgotten my dream.But it was there then,In front of me,Bright like a sun--My dream.And then the wall rose,Rose slowly,Slowly,Between me and my dream.Rose until it touched the sky--The wall.Shadow.I am black.I lie down in the shadow.No longer the light of my dream before me,Above me.

Only the thick wall.Only the shadow.My hands!My dark hands!Break through the wall!Find my dream!Help me to shatter this darkness,To smash this night,To break this shadowInto a thousand lights of sun,Into a thousand whirling dreamsOf sun! I Continue To Dream

I take my dreams and make of them a bronze vaseand a round fountain with a beautiful statue in its center.And a song with a broken heart and I ask you:Do you understand my dreams?Sometimes you say you do,And sometimes you say you don't.Either way it doesn't matter.I continue to dream.