I Went Down To The

I Went Down To The River, I Set Down On The Bank. I Tried To Think But Couldn't, So I Jumped In And Sank.

I Will Not Take 'but' For An Answer. Negroes Have Been Looking At Democracy's 'but' Too Long.

We Younger Negro Artists Who Create Now Intend To Express Our Individual Dark-skinned Selves Without Fear Or Shame. If White People Are Pleased, We Are Glad. If They Are Not, It Doesn't Matter. We Know We Are Beautiful. And Ugly Too. The Tom-tom Cries And The Tom-tom Laughs. If Colored People Are Pleased, We Are Glad. If They Are Not, It Doesn't Matter Either. We Build Our Temples For Tomorrow, Strong As We Know How, And We Stand On Top Of The Mountain, Free Within Ourselves.

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 Known Rivers: Ancient, Dusky Rivers. My Soul Has Grown Deep Like The Rivers.

That Justice Is A Blind Goddess Is A Thing To Which We Black Are Wise: Her Bandage Hides Two Festering Sores That Once Perhaps Were Eyes.