I attended eighth grade at Langston Hughes Junior High, which may have been why I was particularly alert to the work of the great poet of the Harlem Renaissance whilst in college. Thus, when I read "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" in Proverbs 13:12, I inevitably think of Hughes' ominous masterpiece, "A Dream Deferred." Try as I might, I couldn't work it into my sermon on Proverbs 13:12-19 (other than the reference in the title, "What Happens to a Desire Fulfilled?"), but I can at least post it here.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
No comments:
Post a Comment