“I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem’s heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day—
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.”
—
Langston Hughes, “Juke Box Love Song”
I sent this poem to a boy once. I love every word of it. I sent him a lot of poems, actually. In facebook messages! He didn’t really seem to care! Ha!
