Harlem [2]

Langston Hughes (1958)

What happens to a dream deferred?

     Does it dry up
     like a raisin in the sun?
     Or fester like a sore—
     and then run?
     Does it stink like rotten meat?
     Or crust and sugar over—
     like a syrupy sweet

     Maybe it just sags
     like a heavy load.

     Or does it explode?

2008: Question by May Swenson