Poem-a-Day - "As I Grew Older" by Langston Hughes

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February 5, 2022 

As I Grew Older

Langston Hughes

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 slowly, slowly,
Dimming,
Hiding,
The light of 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 shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on February 5, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“As I Grew Older” appeared in The Weary Blues (Alfred A. Knopf, 1926).

Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1901, in Joplin, Missouri. A major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, he is the author of several books of poetry, prose, and plays, including The Weary Blues (Alfred A. Knopf, 1926), Shakespeare in Harlem (Alfred A. Knopf, 1942), and I Wonder as I Wander (Rinehart, 1956). He died on May 22, 1967, in New York City.

The Weary Blues
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1926)

“O Black and Unknown Bards” by James Weldon Johnson
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“I Know My Soul” by Claude McKay
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Thanks to John Murillo, author of Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Listen to a Q&A about Murillo’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.
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