Poetry Sunday: Tired by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an American poet and social activist of the twentieth century. He was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and an innovator of a literary art form called "jazz poetry." Here is a very short poem of his that looks unflinchingly at the state of his world and, in its own way, is a succinct call to action to change things. Somehow it seems quite fitting for our time as well. (And, yes, I think I know those worms that are "eating at the rind.") 

Tired

by Langston Hughes

I am so tired of waiting,
Aren't you,
For the world to become good
And beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
And cut the world in two-
And see what worms are eating
At the rind.


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