I�ve been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me, sun has baked me.
Looks like between �em
They done tried to make me
Stop laughin�, stop lovin�, stop livin�--
But I don�t care!
I�m still here!
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I�ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody�ll dare
say to me,
�Eat in the kitchen,�
Then.
Besides,
They�ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--
I, too, am America.
Well, son, I�ll tell you:
Life for me ain�t been no crystal stair.
It�s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor--
Bare.
But all the time
I�se been a-climbin� on,
And reachin� landin�s,
And turnin� corners,
And somtimes goin� in the dark
Where there ain�t been no light.
So boy, don�t you turn back.
Don�t you set down on the steps
�Cause you finds it�s kinder hard.
Don�t you fall now--
For I�se still goin�, honey,
I�se still climbin�,
And life for me ain�t been no crystal stair.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
