(that suffered a sharp pang)
War and peace has brought their changes and great anxieties,
the face of the earth was furrowed by floods and fire,
the faces of mistress and maid were furrowed by smiles and tears...
I could never have accorded myself with a tearful mood.
For they loved me desperately.
When I frowned they trembled, but loved me.
When I smiled, they asked no greater blessing of God.”
You must pardon my tears-
It was the revulsion of feeling.
As if society had nothing left to do but grow old and get ready for the winter.
It was a singular beginning,
... and in the sky the stars shone on as if nothing had happened.
See gentle patience smile on pain
The devil that lurks in every strong man's blood leaped up-
He put his hand upon his brother's throat
Slavery's black shadow seemed to darken all the world
'Don't let us disturb you', I said. 'There is plenty of room for us all.'
Instead of darkening, the haunted landscape began to brighten.
I was tired.
I was hungry.
I was everything but discouraged.
Of my ancestry I know almost nothing.
They have spent the best days of their lives in slavery.
Physical freedom, political power-
all these in turn have waxed and waned,
until even the last grows dim and overcast.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Will America be poorer if her coarse and cruel wit
be replaced with loving jovial good humor?
There are to-day no truer exponents of the pure human spirit
of the Declaration of Independence than the American Negroes.
Freedom ain't free if a man ain't free
Were you there when they nailed him to a tree?
I didn't realize I was crying until I tasted my tears in my mouth.
I have come after them and made repair.
A period of introspection, a space of retrospection, then a mixture of both.
Out of this an awful calm.
The great belt on the wheel of time slipped
and eternity stood still.
“You are very happy are you not, with youth, health, friends, riches, fame?”
Pity not this busy monster, mankunkind
Don't say that everything within is Western styled.
Even if it is built of jade, it has turned into a cage.
If you had a foresight, you should have regretted coming here.
Now you will be forever sad and forever resentful.
so much depends
upon
good fences.
Good fences make good neighbors.
(And that has made all the difference.)
And are American little boys the best little boys? -James p.283
How do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death?
I should have been a pair of ragged claws.
One day anyone died I guess
whose drown face sleeps with open eyes
who might have made the leap, not as a leap
but a succession of brief,
amazing movements.
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions
which a minute will reverse.
But the hushing of the criticism of honest opponents is a dangerous thing.
I still have a dream.
I know that even death could not destroy your ambition.
O my enemy. Do I terrify?
Wherever you see them, run, because they hate you.
My tears are now hushed and faint.
But the crying begins all over again.
Children screaming under the subways!
Boys sobbing in armies!
Old men weeping in the parks!
the lessons badly learned
I came to explore the wreck
I came to the see the damage that was done
everyone has died at once
There is a revolution going on.
Look at the horizon and listen.
The woods are full of wardens.
where you going?
no walking.
no running.
no standing.
The police is men in black who get kids and send them to Tijuana.
I don't feel good don't bother me.
Today the headlines clot in my blood.
Who calls anyone civilized?
My children are hungry and the animals
who live in the backyard are starving.
There is somebody new killed everyday.
People had to share food.
People got sick.
People cried all kinds of tears.
O Starry- spangled shock of mercy
Rise up! There is no limit to this dust!
War and peace with nothing in between.
All you lost during that war was sleep
because you stayed up all night watching CNN.
We wait for the easiest vision
A book of myths in which our names do not appear.
I've seen actual news footage.
The eternal war is here.
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