“Harlem” is another title for the poem below.

A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Eduhonesty: I believe some dreams dry up so early and so thoroughly that the once-dreamers no longer even remember that they once dreamed.