Dream Deferred


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?


Langston Hughes



This poem was in the original humanities project. It is referred to as “Dream Deferred” or “Harlem: Dream Deferred.” It’s from Hughes’ larger work: Montage of a Dream Deferred.