Minstrel Man

Looking through old papers, I came across a school assignment of Ian’s from 6^th grade.  He would have been age 11, going on 12.  Each student was asked to choose one favorite poem from the many the class had read through the year.  Ian chose, “Minstrel Man” by Langston Hughes; the poem is below.  Strange choice for one that age, I thought at the time (and still think), but then Ian could be counted on for the unexpected, and perhaps he found this one expressed something he had trouble finding words for.

Minstrel Man

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?

— “Minstrel Man” LangstonHughes, from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes.Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.