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Photograph Info:

Portrait of American writer and activist Langston Hughes in 1943 (US Library of Congress Archives)

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The Poem:

"Harlem"

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?