For poems are like rainbows: they escape you quickly.

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Autobiography and memoir

For poems are like rainbows: they escape you quickly.

Langston Hughes

1940

★ 2.2

Other tags relating to this quote

Topic

Poetry Rainbows The ephemeral

Statement type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Time

1940

Person

Langston Hughes

Provenance

Citation

Hughes, Langston. "I've Known Rivers." The Big Sea. Alfred A. Knopf, 1940.

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I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen" Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.

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For poems are like rainbows: they escape you quickly. — Langston Hughes

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