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 veins¹.

    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 lulled² 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 bosom³ turn all golden in the sunset.

    I've known rivers：

    Ancient， dusky rivers.

    My soul has grown deep like the rivers.