Ma old time daddy
Came back home last night.
His face was pale an’
His eyes didn’t look just right.
He says to me I’m
Comin’ home to you
So sick an’ lonsome
I don’t know what to do.
O, men treats women
Just like a pair o’ shoes.
I say treats women
Like a pair o’ shoes—,
They kicks ’em round an’
Does ’em like they choose.
I looked at ma daddy—
Lawd! an’ I wanted to cry.
He looked so thin.—
Lawd! that I wanted to cry.
But de devil told me
Damn a lover
Comes home to die!
I hate to die this way with the quiet
Over everything like a shroud.
I’d rather die where the band’s a playin’
Noisy and loud.
I’d rather die the way I lived—
Drunk and rowdy and gay;
God! Why did you ever curse me
Makin’ me die this way?
Poetry
was compiled from poems published between 1921 and 1928 by
Langston Hughes.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Weijia Cheng,
and is based on transcriptions from
various sources
and on digital scans from
various sources.
The cover page is adapted from
The Prodigal Son,
a painting completed circa 1926 by
Aaron Douglas.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.
The first edition of this ebook was released on
January 11, 2024, 10:18 p.m.
You can check for updates to this ebook, view its revision history, or download it for different ereading systems at
standardebooks.org/ebooks/langston-hughes/poetry.
The volunteer-driven Standard Ebooks project relies on readers like you to submit typos, corrections, and other improvements. Anyone can contribute at standardebooks.org.
May you do good and not evil.
May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
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