"The Weary Blues" is a poem by American poet Langston Hughes.

Written in 1925, "The Weary

Blues" was first published in the National Urban League magazine, Opportunity. It was awarded
the magazine's prize for best poem of the year.
The Weary Blues (1925)
By Langston Hughes:
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, “Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
I heard a Negro play. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway. . . . Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the
floor.
He did a lazy sway. . . .
He played a few chords then he sang some
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
more—
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
“I got the Weary Blues
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
And I can’t be satisfied.
O Blues!
Got the Weary Blues
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
And can’t be satisfied—
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical
I ain’t happy no mo’
fool.
And I wish that I had died.”
Sweet Blues!
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
Coming from a black man’s soul.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
O Blues!
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
While the Weary Blues echoed through his
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan
head.
—
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.