Harlem: A Dream Deferred


Jacob Lawrence
Tombstones

Harlem: A Dream Deferred

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?

~ Langston Hughes ~