“I went down to the river,I set down on the bank.I tried to think but couldn't,So I jumped in and sank.”

“Down Where I AmToo many yearsBeatin' at the door--I done beat myBoth fists sore.Too many yearsTryin' to get up there--Done broke my ankles down,Got nowhere.Too many yearsClimbin' that hill,'Bout out of breath.I got my fill.I'm gonna plant my feetOn solid ground.If you want to see me,Come down.”

“Lawrence has a wonderful hill in it, with a university on top and the first time I ran away from home, I ran up the hill and looked across the world: Kansas wheat fields and the Kaw River, and I wanted to go some place, too. I got a whipping for it.”

“I loved my friendHe went away from meThere's nothing more to sayThe poem ends,Soft as it began-I loved my friend.”

“So since I'm still here livin',I guess I will live on.I could've died for love--But for livin' I was born.”

“America is a dream.The poet says it was promises.The people say it is promises—that will come true.The people do not always say things out loud,Nor write them down on paper.The people often holdGreat thoughts in their deepest heartsAnd sometimes only blunderingly express them,Haltingly and stumbling say them,And faultily put them into practice.The people do not always understand each other.But there is, somewhere there,Always the trying to understand,And the trying to say,"You are a man. Together we are building our land.”

“I've known rivers:I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”