Langston Hughes: The Negro Speaks of Rivers ぼくは川のことを知っている
ラングストン・ヒューズ (Langston Hughes) は、1920年代、ニューヨークの黒人街ハーレムを中心にした黒人文化運動ハーレム・ルネッサンス (Harlem Renaissance) を代表する詩人・作家。
ハーレムとは
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
Recorded in performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival; July 7, 1973.