L' AVENTURE AMERICAINE : POEME DE LANGSTON HUGHES

                              THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS

           I ' VE KNOWN RIVERS    

           I' VE KNOWN RIVERS ANCIENT AS THE WORLD AND OLDER

          THAN THE FLOW OF HUMAN BLOOD IN HUMAN VEINS

           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

           BOSOM TURN ALL GOLDEN IN THE SUNSET.

           I' VE  KNOW RIVERS :

           ANCIENT, DUSKY RIVERS.

           MY SOUL HAS GROWN DEEP LIKE THE RIVERS.

                                  LANGSTON HUGHES