917. Langston Hughes (1902-67). Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989

Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.


NUMBER:	917
AUTHOR:	Langston Hughes (1902–67)
QUOTATION:	Listen, Christ, You did alright in your day, I reckon— But that day’s gone now. They ghosted you up a swell story, too, Called it Bible— But it’s dead now. The popes and the preachers’ve Made too much money from it. They’ve sold you too many Kings, generals, robbers, and killers— Even to the Czar and the Cossacks, Even to Rockefeller’s church, Even to THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. You ain’t no good no more. They’ve pawned you Till you’ve done wore out. Goodbye, Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova, Beat it on away from here now. Make way for a new guy with no religion at all— A real guy named Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME— I said, ME! Go Ahead on now, You’re getting in the way of things, Lord. And please take Saint Ghandi [sic] with you when you go, And Saint Pope Pius, And Saint Aimee McPherson, And big black Saint Becton Of the Consecrated Dime. And step on the gas, Christ! Move! Don’t be so slow about movin’! The world is mine from now on— And nobody’s gonna sell ME To a king, or a general, Or a millionaire.
ATTRIBUTION:	LANGSTON HUGHES, “Goodbye Christ,” The Negro Worker, November/December 1932, p. 32.
SUBJECTS:	Jesus Christ