LANGSTON HUGHES

"Our Land"

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We should have a land of sun, 

Of gorgeous sun, 

And a land of fragrant water

Where the twilight is a soft bandanna handkerchief

Of rose and gold, 

And not this land

Where life is cold.

We should have a land of trees,

Of tall thick trees,

Bowed down with chattering parrots

Brilliant as the day,

And not this land where birds are gray.

Ah, we should have a land of joy,

Of love and joy and wine and song, 

And not this land where joy is wrong.