Langston Hughes: A Lyrical Life Gallery

Thanks for joining us for the tour of Langston Hughes: A Lyrical Life from March 15–April 2, 2026. This sold-out production celebrated the life of America’s most influential literary voices. Born in 1901 in Joplin, Missouri, Hughes was an early innovator of jazz poetry and a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance. This semi-staged musical program and literary experience honors Hughes’s extraordinary legacy and amplifies his singular voice and texts, illuminating the universal human experiences of joy, struggle, and aspiration. Check out this exclusive media gallery to relive the most iconic moments of the show!

Photos

Additional Media

Digital Program

Learn about the artists, production, and more in the digital program.

View Digital Program

Read the Poems

I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-
Of such I dream, my world!

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me—
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

This is a song for the genius child.
Sing it softly, for the song is wild.
Sing it softly as ever you can–
Lest the song get out of hand.

Nobody loves a genius child.

Can you love an eagle,
Tame or wild?

Wild or tame,
Can you love a monster
Of frightening name?

Nobody loves a genius child.

Kill him–and let his soul run wild!

I went to look for Joy,
Slim, dancing Joy,
Gay, laughing Joy,
Bright-eyed Joy–
And I found her
Driving the butcher’s cart
In the arms of the butcher boy!
Such company, such company,
As keeps this young nymph, Joy!

Lonely little question mark
on a bench in the park:

See the people passing by?
See the airplanes in the sky?
See the birds
flying home
before
dark?

Home’s just around
the corner
there–
but not really
anywhere.

I ask you this:
Which way to go?
I ask you this:
Which sin to bear?
Which crown to put
Upon my hair?
I do not know,
Lord God,
I do not know.

Lonely people
In the lonely night
Grab a lonely dream
And hold it tight.

Lonely people
In the lonely day
Work to salt
Their dream away.

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?

He sits on a hill
And beats a drum
For the great earth spirits
That never come.

He sits on a hill
Looking out to the sea
Toward a mirage-land
That will never be.

To wander through this living world
And leave uncut the roses
Is to remember fragrance where
The flower no scent encloses.

Though I go drunken to her door,
I’m ever so sure she’ll let me in.
Though I wander and stray and wound her sore,
she’ll open the latch when I come again.
No matter what I do or say,
she waits for me at the end of the day.