Christmas in Central Park (M.A. Reilly, 2011) |
The Weary Blues
- Langston Hughes
Droning a drowsy syncopated
tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow
croon,
I
heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other
night
By the pale dull pallor of an old
gas light
He
did a lazy sway . . .
He
did a lazy sway . . .
To the tune o' those Weary
Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory
key
He made that poor piano moan with
melody.
O
Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety
stool
He played that sad raggy tune like
a musical fool.
Sweet
Blues!
Coming from a black man's
soul.
O
Blues!
In a deep song voice with a
melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old
piano moan--
"Ain't
got nobody in all this world,
Ain't got nobody but ma self.
I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
And put ma troubles on the shelf."
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot
on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang
some more--
"I
got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied--
I ain't happy no mo'
And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned
that tune.
The stars went out and so did the
moon.
The singer stopped playing and went
to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed
through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man
that's dead.
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