Langston Hughes

This poem was originally published in 1923 with several other of Hughes’s early poems in the Crisis, the official publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). For more biographical information on Langston Hughes, see page 1100.

Oh, silver tree!

Oh, shining rivers of the soul!

In a Harlem cabaret

Six long-headed jazzers play.

5

A dancing girl whose eyes are bold

Lifts high a dress of silken gold.

Oh, singing tree!

Oh, shining rivers of the soul!

Were Eve’s eyes

10

In the first garden

Just a bit too bold?

Was Cleopatra gorgeous

In a gown of gold?

Oh, shining tree!

15

Oh, silver rivers of the soul!

In a whirling cabaret

Six long-headed jazzers play.

(1923)