Good morning, daddy!
Ain't you
The boogie-woogie
Of a dream deferred?
Listen closely:
You'll hear their
Beating out and beating out a —You
It's a happy beat?
Listen to it closely:
Ain't you heardsomething underneathlike a —What did I say?
Sure,
I'm happy!
Take it away!
Hey, pop!
Re-bop!
Mop!
Y-e-a-h!
Hughes himself says that the book from which this comes "Montage of a Dream Deferred" (1951) should be viewed as a complete poem in itself and not a collection of short poems.