The Negro Speaks of Rivers

by Langston Hughes

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 it’s muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers

My soul has grown deep like the rivers