Stanza 1:
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?
Stanza 2:
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Stanza 3:
I have a dream.
I have a dream.
I have a dream.
Stanza 4:
I have a dream
of freedom.
I have a dream
of peace.
I have a dream
of equality.
This poem is a powerful reflection on the struggles and aspirations of African Americans in the 1950s and beyond. The first three stanzas explore the potentially devastating effects of delayed dreams, while the fourth stanza reveals the poet's own enduring hopes for a better future.