Because my mouth


Is wide with laughter


And my throat


Is deep with song,


You do not think


I suffer after


I have held my pain


So long?


Because my mouth


Is wide with laughter,


You do not hear


My inner cry?


Because my feet


Are gay with dancing,


You do not know


I die?

— “Minstrel Man” Langston Hughes,
from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes