As I Grow Older

A poem by Langston Hughes

It was a long time ago.

I have almost forgotten my dream.

But it was there then,

In front of me,

Bright like a sun--

My dream.

And then the wall rose,

Rose slowly,

Slowly,

Between me and my dream.

Rose until it touched the sky--

The wall.

Shadow.

I am black.

I lie down in the shadow.

No longer the light of my dream before me,

Above me.

Only the thick wall.

Only the shadow.

My hands!

My dark hands!

Break through the wall!

Find my dream!

Help me to shatter this darkness,

To smash this night,

To break this shadow

Into a thousand lights of sun,

Into a thousand whirling dreams

Of sun!

Hughes speaks of dreams in this poem. As time goes by, dreams are sometimes lost and forgotten, either through some unfortunate circumstance or by the fault of one's self and others. They lie in the back of the mind waiting to be rediscovered. In this poem, Hughes has rediscovered. He's found his dream with his own resolve. He and his "dark hands" broke through the walls of confinement and now, he's free to do with what he'd like with his "dream."