“America is a dream.
The poet says it was promises.
The people say it is promises—that will come true.
The people do not always say things out loud,
Nor write them down on paper.
The people often hold
Great thoughts in their deepest hearts
And sometimes only blunderingly express them,
Haltingly and stumbling say them,
And faultily put them into practice.
The people do not always understand each other.
But there is, somewhere there,
Always the trying to understand,
And the trying to say,
‘You are a man. Together we are building our land.’”
More from Langston Hughes
“Bring me all of your dreams, You dreamer, Bring me all your Heart melodies That I may wrap…”
“Out of love, No regrets— Though the goodness Be wasted forever. Out of love, No regrets--…”
“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die life is a broken-winged bird that can not fly. Hold…”
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like…”