As I Grew Older

By Langston Hughes

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun—
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky—
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1901 in Joplin, Missouri. He began writing poetry in the eighth grade. His father would discourage him from pursuing writing as a career, in favor of something ‘more practical’. Langston’s tuition fees to Columbia University were paid on the grounds that he study engineering. He was a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes died on May 22, 1967, in New York City.