Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think
I suffer after
I have held my pain
So long?
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter,
You do not hear
My inner cry?
Because my feet
Are gay with dancing,
You do not know
I die?
Langston Hughes, "Minstrel Man," from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Copyright ©1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by perrmission of Alfred A. Knopf.