Langston Hughes: "Dinner Guest: Me" (1967)

in Harlem by Robery W. Kelley/LIFE

Dinner Guest: Me (attrib. 1967)
I know I am
The Negro Problem
Being winded and dined,

Lucian Freud Reflection 1967

Answering the usual questions
That come to white mind
Which seeks demurely
To probe in polite way
The why and wherewithal
Of darkens U.S.A. -
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,
Murmuring gently
Over fraises du bois,
"I'm so ashamed of being white."
...
To be a Problem on
Park Avenue at eight
Is not so bad.
Solutions to the Problem,
Of course, wait.

- From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

...forever be faithful in hope...where the world may have little to give...

HARLEM
By Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up
      like a raisin in the sun?
      Or fester like a sore—
      And then run?
      Does it stink like rotten meat?
      Or crust and sugar over—
      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags
      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?