The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Original Text
The Weary Blues (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1926). PS H874w Victoria College Library.
1I've known rivers:
2I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
3My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
6I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
7I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
8I've known rivers:
9Ancient, dusky rivers.
10My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Notes

4] Euphrates: river flowing from Turkey to unite with the Tigris to make the Shatt-al-Arab. Back to Line
5] Congo: Zaire river flowing from central Africa into the Atlantic. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1921
Publication Notes
Crisis (June 1921): 71
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1999.
Rhyme