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Fantasy in Purple

by Langston Hughes
From Caroling Dusk (1927)

Beat the drums of tragedy for me.
Beat the drums of tragedy and death.
And let the choir sing a stormy song
To drown the rattle of my dying breath.

Beat the drums of tragedy for me,
And let the white violins whir thin and slow,
But blow one blaring trumpet note of sun
To go with me
      to the darkness
      where I go.

This poem is in the public domain. Source text: Project Gutenberg.

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