Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
Children's Rhymes
By what sendsthe white kidsI ain't sent:I know I can'tbe President.What don't bugthem white kidssure bugs me:We know everybodyain't free.Lies written..
© Langston Hughes
The Negro Mother
Children, I come back todayTo tell you a story of the long dark wayThat I had to climb, that I had to knowIn order that the race might live and..
© Langston Hughes
I, Too
I, too, sing America.I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow..
© Langston Hughes
Cross
My old man's a white old manAnd my old mother's black.If ever I cursed my white old manI take my curses back.If ever I cursed my black old motherAnd..
© Langston Hughes
Democracy
Democracy will not comeToday, this yearNor everThrough compromise and fear.I have as much rightAs the other fellow hasTo standOn my two feetAnd own..
© Langston Hughes
Dream Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry upLike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore--And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust..
© Langston Hughes
April Rain Song
Let the rain kiss youLet the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid dropsLet the rain sing you a lullabyThe rain makes still pools on the..
© Langston Hughes
Mother To Son
Well, son, I'll tell you:Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.It's had tacks in it,And splinters,And boards torn up,And places with no carpet on..
© Langston Hughes
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..
© Langston Hughes
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..
© Langston Hughes
Still Another Day: I
Today is that day, the day that carrieda desperate light that since has died.Don't let the squatters know:let's keep it all between us,day, between..
© Pablo Neruda
Still Another Day: XVII/Men
The truth is in the prologue. Death to the romantic fool,to the expert in solitary confinement,I'm the same as the teacher from Colombia,the rotarian..
© Pablo Neruda
Ode To Ironing
Poetry is white:it comes from water swathed in drops,it wrinkles and gathers,this planet's skin has to spread out,the sea's whiteness has to be..
© Pablo Neruda
Unity
There is something dense, united, settled in the depths,repeating its number, its identical sign.How it is noted that stones have touched time,in..
© Pablo Neruda
Ode To The Cat
The animals were imperfect,long-tailed,unfortunate in their heads.Little by little theyput themselves together,making themselves a..
© Pablo Neruda
Ode To Age
I don't believe in age.All old peoplecarryin their eyes,a child,and children,at timesobserve us with theeyes of wise ancients.Shall we measurelifein..
© Pablo Neruda
Ode to Hope
Oceanic dawnat the centerof my life,waves like grapes,the sky's solitude,you fill meand floodthe complete sea,the undiminished sky,tempoand space,sea..
© Pablo Neruda
The Men
I'm Ramón González Barbagelata from anywhere,from Cucuy, from Paraná, from Rio Turbio, from Oruro,from Maracaibo, from Parral, from Ovalle, from..
© Pablo Neruda
The Portrait In The Rock
Oh yes I knew him, I spent years with him,with his golden and stony substance,he was a man who was tired -in Paraguay he left his father and..
© Pablo Neruda
Come With Me, I Said, And No One Knew (VII)
Come with me, I said, and no one knewwhere, or how my pain throbbed,no carnations or barcaroles for me,only a wound that love had opened.I said it..
© Pablo Neruda
Lxxxiv From: ‘cien Sonetos De Amor’
One time more, my love, the net of light extinguisheswork, wheels, flames, boredoms and farewells,and we surrender the swaying wheat to night,the..
© Pablo Neruda
Triangles
Three triangles of birds crossedOver the enormous ocean which extendedIn winter like a green beast.Everything just lay there, the silence,The..
© Pablo Neruda
The Old Women Of The Ocean
To the solemn sea the old women comeWith their shawls knotted around their necksWith their fragile feet cracking.They sit down alone on the..
© Pablo Neruda
Soneto Xvii
No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacioo flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,secretamente, entre..
© Pablo Neruda