Biography series: Langston Hughes

The sighs
by Joel Howard
Inspired by the life and childhood of Langston Hughes

Saved by a library
I want to say
There you can read stories
Of it being another way

Stories of the struggles of others
Of how white and black all are brothers

But it wasn't always that way
I sighed as a child
Mother sighed, removed me as I in school
Was called wrong, and objectified

Sigh as I fall asleep reading at night
Next to my hot dogs and sticky rice
Sigh as I freeze falling asleep at night
Sigh as I write about my life

So we sigh
So we sigh
Grandma always by my side
Tells me the stories 
And in them I confide
Great grandmas were slaves
I remember those days
In my bones in my blood
The sighs are in my blood
In my veins
Was it the rhythm that they sang
That created in me rhythm today? 
No matter, the sigh, I say
Is with me
Pushes me
still today



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