Aunt Sue has a head full of stories. Aunt Sue has a whole heart full of stories. Summer nights on the front porch Aunt Sue cuddles a brown-faced child to her bosom And tells him stories. Black slaves Working in the hot sun, And black slaves Walking in the dewy night, And black slaves Singing sorrow songs on the banks of a mighty river Mingle themselves softly In the flow of old Aunt Sue's voice, Mingle themselves softly In the dark shadows that cross and recross Aunt Sue's stories. And the dark-faced child, listening, Knows that Aunt Sue's stories are real stories. He knows that Aunt Sue never got her stories Out of any book at all, But that they came Right out of her own life. The dark-faced child is quiet Of a summer night Listening to Aunt Sue's stories.
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Text Authorship:
- by Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Wilhelm Grosz (1894 - 1939), "Aunt Sue's Stories", from Africa Songs [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2005-10-12
Line count: 25
Word count: 141