The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln Went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy

eebs and flows.

Ink and clay.

The rivers have become my blood, And my blood has grown deep like the rivers.

I know rivers.

The currents of the sky.

These rivers and skies.

(There are all kinds of rivers.)

I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

• Langston Hughes