You say I O.K.ed

LONG DISTANCE?

O.K.ed it when?

My goodness, Central

That was then!



I'm mad and disgusted

With that Negro now.

I don't pay no REVERSED

CHARGES nohow.



You say, I will pay it--

Else you'll take out my phone?

You better let

My phone alone.



I didn't ask him

To telephone me.

Roscoe knows darn well

LONG DISTANCE

Ain't free.



If I ever catch him,

Lawd, have pity!

Calling me up

From Kansas City.



Just to say he loves me!

I knowed that was so.

Why didn't he tell me some'n

I don't know?



For instance, what can

Them other girls do

That Alberta K. Johnson

Can't do--and more, too?



What's that, Central?

You say you don't care

Nothing about my

Private affair?



Well, even less about your

PHONE BILL, does I care!



Un-humm-m! . . . Yes!

You say I gave my O.K.?

Well, that O.K. you may keep--



But I sure ain't gonna pay!




From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used with permission.

I went down to the river,

I set down on the bank.

I tried to think but couldn't,

So I jumped in and sank.



I came up once and hollered!

I came up twice and cried!

If that water hadn't a-been so cold

I might've sunk and died.



But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!



I took the elevator

Sixteen floors above the ground.

I thought about my baby

And thought I would jump down.



I stood there and I hollered!

I stood there and I cried!

If it hadn't a-been so high

I might've jumped and died.



But it was High up there! It was high!



So since I'm still here livin',

I guess I will live on.

I could've died for love--

But for livin' I was born



Though you may hear me holler,

And you may see me cry--

I'll be dogged, sweet baby,

If you gonna see me die.



Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!




From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used with permission.

I, too, sing America.



I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.



Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.



Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--



I, too, am America.




From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Knopf and Vintage Books. Copyright © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.

To fling my arms wide

In some place of the sun,

To whirl and to dance

Till the white day is done.

Then rest at cool evening

Beneath a tall tree

While night comes on gently,

Dark like me--

That is my dream!



To fling my arms wide

In the face of the sun,

Dance! Whirl! Whirl!

Till the quick day is done.

Rest at pale evening . . .

A tall, slim tree . . .

Night coming tenderly

Black like me.




From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used with permission.