An April Rain Song / Langston Hughes

An April Rain Song

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head
With silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
With its pitty-pat.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep tune
On our roof at night,
And I love the rain.

~~
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
from The Brownies' Book, April 1921

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

Langston Hughes biography

"An April Rain Song" read by Henry Kaiser. Courtesy National Botanical Garden.

Mother to Son / 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 the floor —
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now —
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

~~
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
from The Weary Blues, 1926

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

Langston Hughes biography

"Mother to Son" read by Viola Davis Courtesy Youtube.

Summer Night / Langston Hughes

Summer Night

The sounds
Of the Harlem night
Drop one by one into stillness.
The last player-piano is closed.
The last victrola ceases with the
" Jazz Boy Blues. "
The last crying baby sleeps
And the night becomes
Still as a whispering heartbeat.
I toss
Without rest in the darkness,
Weary as the tired night,
My soul
Empty as the silence,
Empty with a vague,
Aching emptiness,
Desiring,
Needing someone,
Something.

I toss without rest
In the darkness
Until the new dawn,
Wan and pale,
Descends like a white mist
Into the court-yard.

~~
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
from The Crisis, December 1925

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

Langston Hughes biography

"Summer Night" read by My Favorites Places.