by Langston Hughes (1901 - 1967)
A black pierrot
Language: English
I am a black pierrot:
She did not love me,
So I crept into the night
And the night was black, too.
I am a black pierrot:
She did not love me,
So I wept until the red dawn
Dripped blood over the eastern hills
And my heart was bleeding, too
I am a black pierrot:
She did not love me,
So with my once gay-colored soul
Shrunken like a balloon without air,
I went forth in the morning
To seek a new brown love.
Text Authorship:
- by Langston Hughes (1901 - 1967), "A black pierrot", appears in The Weary Blues, first published 1926 [author's text not yet checked 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 William Grant Still (1895 - 1978), "A black pierrot", published 1949 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Separation, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Thompson (b. 1954), "A black pierrot", 2004 [ tenor and piano ], from Dream Variations, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-27
Line count: 15
Word count: 85