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A Dream Deferred
2009

baritone
piano

duration 4' 

first performance:
Sumner Thompson and Linda Osborn-Blaschke
WordSong / Boston / April 19, 2009

RECORDING
studio recording by Aaron Engebreth and Linda Osborn-Blaschke


SCORE

TEXT
Harlem 
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? 

Langston Hughes (1902–1967)