Southern Mammy Sings (Hung Up On A Dream)

'Hold fast to dreams
 For if dreams die  
 Life is a broken-winged bird  
 That cannot fly'  
           -Langston Hughes  
   
   
Mammy done hung some clothes on a line,  
All dem white sheets in a wind was flyin'--  
An' ole Mammy's hair was wrapped up tight,  
Oh, tight as dreams jus' crawlin' away  
As if they night critters lit by day.  
   
An' if two pennies a dream do make,  
Why can't dem coins lay claim to stake  
What Mammy given, shore she'll take --  
It ain't enough for a fair shake  
If she found dem rizen in de weeds she raked.  
   
An' if some bird rose on the wing  
Nuttin it dropped wouldn't change a thing  
Dem linens' colors wouldn't never change --  
Their whiteness ever would remain;  
A spot of brown would be a stain  
To be removed by lye and rain.  
   
An' if there ever was a time  
Mammy hung soilt laundry on de line  
Colored as earth all dusty brown --  
Such freedom would upset dis town  
To hear the birds would sing that proud  
Lawd, dey would just shoot 'em down!  
   
             .....