I, Too

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.

From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, edited by Arnold Rampersad (New
York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), p. 46.