50-50

50-50

by Langston Hughes



I’m all alone in this world, she said,

Ain’t got nobody to share my bed,

Ain’t got nobody to hold my hand—

The truth of the matter’s

I ain’t got no man.



Big Boy opened his mouth and said,

Trouble with you is

You ain’t got no head!

If you had a head and used your mind

You could have me with you

All the time.



She answered, Babe, what must I do?



He said, Share your bed—

And your money, too.



Langston Hughes, “50-50” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Reprinted with the permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.Source: Selected Poems (1959).