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

Back to Biography series