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God

I am God—
Without one friend,
Alone in my purity
World without end.

Below me young lovers
Tread the sweet ground—
But I am God—
I cannot come down.

Spring!
Life is love!
Love is life only!
Better to be human
Than God—and lonely.


Originally appeared in the October 1931 issue of Poetry magazine.

“God” is from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, edited by Arnold Rampersad with David Roessel, associate editor, © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes, used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. and by permission of Harold Ober Associates in the UK.
Source: Poetry (February 2012)
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