ZENCİYİM BEN /  NEGRO                                                       

Zenciyim ben                                                       

          I am a Negro              

Gece gibi                                                             

                            Black as the night is black

Afrika’nın derinlikleri gibi kara                          

                            Black like the depths of my Africa

Köleydim her zaman                                                

                               I’ve been a slave

Saray basamaklarını temizledim eski Roma’da

                                Ceasar told me to keep his door-steps clean

Washington’da ayakkabı boyamaktayım şimdi

                                 I brushed the boots of Washington.

Emekçiydim her zaman                         

                                 I’ve been a worker:

Mısır’da piramitleri kuran benim           

                                  Under my hand the pyramids arose.

Benim, harcını atan gökdelenlerin          

                                   I made mortar fort the Woolworth Building.

Türkücüydüm her zaman    

                                    I’ve been a singer:                            

Afrika’dan Missuri’ye kadar yaydım türkülerimi

                                  All the way from Africa to Georgia           

Çınlar kederli ezgisi onların her yerde 

                               I carried my sorrow songs.

O tam tam ritmi        

                                       I made ragtime.

Kurbandım her zaman    

                                      I’ve been a victim:Kongo’da kırbaçla dövdüler beni

                                      The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo

Ve şimdi linç edilmekteyim Teksas’ta                 

                                      They lynch me still in Mississippi.

Zenciyim ben                                                     

                       I am the Negro:Gece gibi!..                                                          

                     Black as the night is black,

Afrika’nın derinlikleri gibi kara                        

                    Black like the depths of my Africa.

                             

                               Langston Hughes