A Negro Woman Speaks I am a black woman of the past, I belong to the dawn. My soul is a river, a swirling stream, Each ripple sings a song.
My heart is deeply rooted In the rich, loamy soil Of the earth and sky, And my spirit rises Like smoke beneath the stars.
A black woman speaks, Through the voices of the wind, In the echoes of laughter, Where the sun still shines, And where I can be free.
- Langston Hughes