Ballad Of Langston Hughes Poem by Edwina Reizer

Great man of your time,
poet of verse and poet of rhyme
you let the white man know
how easy it is to let go
the built up resentment and woe
that's inflicted on skin darker than snow.

All you did was pick up the pen.
All you did over and again
was to relate to the entire world through word
all that needed to be heard.
Radical political action proposed in poetry
was an affront to the white man's psyche.

Your words were written for all to understand.
You words were written to take command
of the ones who heard them
spit out like phlegm.
But always your hope for equality
was written in your poetry.

Great seer and seeker your words still live,
live in the hearts of the forgotten ones
who still feel the frustrating horizons
that loom in the future.
And to those who've come a long way today
your challenge to them is to have their say.