By Langston Hughes
Night funeral
In Harlem:
Where did they get
Them two fine cars?
Insurance man, he did not pay--
His insurance lapsed the other
day--
Yet they got a satin box
for his head to lay.
Night funeral
In Harlem:
Who was it sent
That wreath
of
flowers?
Them flowers came
from that poor boy's friends--
They'll want flowers, too,
When they meet their ends.
Night funeral
in Harlem:
Who preached that
Black boy to his grave?
Old preacher man
Preached that boy away--
Charged Five Dollars
His girl friend had to pay.
Night funeral
In Harlem:
When it was all over
And the lid shut on his head
and the organ had done played
and the last prayers been said
and six
pallbearers
Carried
him out for dead
And off down Lenox Avenue
That
long black hearse done sped,
The street light
At his corner
shined like a tear--
That boy that they was mournin'
Was so dear, so dear
To them
folks that brought the flowers,
To that
girl who paid the preacher man--
It was all their tears that
made
That poor boy's
Funeral grand.
Night funeral
In Harlem.
Copyright © 1997-2002 by
The Academy of American Poets
Short Explanation of the Whole Poem
Poem From The Academy of American Poets
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