The image of a river brings about thoughts of crashing waves, ships being tossed about, and water being breathed onto the shoreline. This poem by Langston Hughes brought about a different image of a river: the human spirit."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.
"I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
"I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
"I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
"I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
"went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its
"muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset
"I've known rivers:
"Ancient, dusky rivers.
"My soul has grown deep like the rivers."
The human spirit flows, as does this poem, with rich history. Every human is tied to their ancestry, and in reading this poem and many of his others, I feel that Hughes feels a very tight bond to his ancestors and his history. It paints a beautiful picture of the perception of man with his past and being a part of it through knowing history. If a man knows where he came from, he can better know where he is going.
"In this bright future you can't forget your past."
--Bob Marley
"The future influences the present just as much as the past"
--Friedrich Nietzsche
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