Let America Be America Again - Langston Hughes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ย. 2024
- A poem by Langston Hughes (1902-1967). First publication in Esquire and in the International Worker Order pamphlet "A New Song" (1938). Music & Recitation by Charles Belfor.
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"Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again! "
#feelthebern
#imwithher
#makeamericagreatagain
This poem is so fitting for today's times in America.
Let it be the dream it used to be which means America was just a dream.
Relevent as ever
Merci
Bravo!
Excellent!!!
This applies just as well to disability rights. In this "freedom-loving" country, the USA, people on SSI (disability) benefits are subject to savings penalty, earnings penalty (stay under $2,000 , no emergency fund, can't consider debt) and marriage penalty ((your check and HEALTH INSURANCE cut off or sharply reduced). Citizens are supposed to have constitutional rights, but disabled people are treated as exiles within our own country. "A land that never has been yet, and yet must be / a land where everyone is free."
am here because i need to write a theme paragraph about and i dont know what tp write
I needed this poem today...
The day a person is being tried, in a court of law, for leading an insurrection of angry people.
People that were tired and angry...
People that felt betrayed and silenced.
I as a person of brown, I know that feeling all too well.
I pray Americans pull together, rather than push each other apart.
Not allow the many lives lost on the battlefield be in vain. After all, they died for freedom of black, white indentured, rich and poor. But most important, FREEDOM and PEACE.
I beg you as Christ is My Lord, Please Show Love, Compassion, Tolerance and Respect to Every Human Being.
We are neighbors,, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and children..
Let’s heal together🙏🏽
🗣💕🗣💕🗣💕🗣💕🗣💕🗣💕💖
Does the music in the background have a name?
No, it doesn't. I've composed the piece to go with the recitation. Its primary melody is derived from "The Star-Spangled Banner".
Will you post your composition separately from your recitation of Langston Hughes’ poem?
I wasn't planning on doing so. I consider the music a type of companion piece to this specific recitation.
How may I obtain your composition to recite Hughes’ poem with my voice, is there a possibility with your permission?
is it fine if I use this for a school project??
Yes, it is fine. :-) Best of luck!
Art inspired by
LET AMERICA BE AMERICA
Show opening:
September 25, 2020
2:30pm - 4:00 pm
Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/86217820860
😊
You read line 5 wrong
Thanks for pointing that out. :-) I'm afraid the recording will have to stay that way.
@Edward Starr You're welcome! All the best to you as well! :-)
Bro sounds like a villain
bruh