“My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

“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.”

“The calm, Cool face of the river, Asked me for a kiss”

“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.”

“Because my mouth Is wide with laughterAnd my throat Is deep with song,You do not thinkI suffer afterI have held my painSo long?Because my mouth Is wide with laughterYou do not hear My inner cry?Because my feet Are gay with dancing You do not knowI die?”

“I've been scared and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between 'em they done Tried to make me Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'-- But I don't care! I'm still here!”

“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.”