No.43

Fanny Brate

1861-1940

Nationality - Swedish

A Day of Celebration

1902

Oil on Canvas

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The Negro Speaks of Rivers

by Langston Hughes

1902-67

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 with rivers.

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