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In Praise of Langston Hughes
By Amin Sharif
I. Spiritual
He sang:
I know a people
black and tan! Singin' a Weary Blues!
Singin' a Weary Blues. Weary Blues!
They sing it 'neath
the sun near a cotton white Sea
Waitin' on a
Moses to part their misery,
But Moses can't
hear 'em 'cause he's at rest
Lolled and sleepin’ on ol’ Pharaoh's
Sister’s breast-
Wake up, Moses! Wake up! Your People Want
to be Free!!
They make us
build Ol' Pharaoh's House
with black
bricks, sweat and mud,
But God's 'venging
angel will be makin' Eygpt
pay in blood.
Wake up, Moses! Wake up!
Seven plagues
for their deep sin-
But Pharaoh
still kept on a holdin’ on them.
If he won’t
pay heed to the Judgment Day
Killin' angel will take each first son
away.
Raise up, Moses! Rise, up! Singin' a Weary
Blues!
II. Voodoo Chant
He sang:
I know a people
black and tan! Singin' a Weary Blues!
Singin' a Weary Blues! Weary Blues!
At twilight down
in New Orleans
I have seen
mulatto Kings and Creole Queens
Dance in Congo Square..
They are the
children of white fleeting love,
yet they worship
even darker gods,
Than ever you or
me --
when they dance in Congo Square.
Naked bodies
rock and sway as 'Legba sings --
King Creole
plays,
There ain't no
snow white angels who will ever stay --
when they dance in Congo Square.
For seen beside
the fire's light
Voodoo gods come
out to fight,
and long dead
souls shake up the night
When they dance in Congo Square.
III. Minstrel
He sang:
I know a people
black and tan! Singin' a Weary Blues! Singin' a Weary Blues!
Weary Blues!
I am the Jonah
man!
Swallowed up by
the whale
but I rests uneasily between his teeth.
Dance a Juba! Dance a Juba, Jonah Man!
I am the Jonah
man!
My troubles are
so deep
that I and the
whale can
only laugh at them in the darkness.
When ole master
hears
rumblin' in the
whale’s belly,
He thinks it's
the Good Lord's
thunder.
Dance a Juba! Dance a Juba, Jonah Man!
But he laughs
when the whale
opens his mouth,
And he sees only
me.
How's the mornin'
light,
I asks?
None for you,
The old master
answers-
Jonah men can
only dance
when the moon
shines down
into the belly
of a whale.
Dance a Juba! Dance a Juba, Jonah Man!
But what ole
master says
Don’t bother
me none,
One day the
whale will throw
me out.
Then I’ll
dance
Black as the
whale's darkness
in the sun!
Dance a Juba! Dance a Juba, Jonah Man!
It makes no difference.
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