This poem by Langston Hughes is telling of a piano player and how he is placing his mind, body, into his work. He is using the blues to tell his story. He even goes as far as to use lines from the music. In lines 19 through 22 the musician is singing about how, even though he's miserable, he's going to put his worries aside. It is like relaxing without being relaxed. In a sense, the mind and body can be at two different states of beings. The body can be tense while the mind is relaxed. The same applies vice versa. The man that is playing the old weary blues is going through a tough situation that will not allow his mind to be in a resting state. His body is calm though because there is no physical damage taking place. It is all within. The blues helps him let go of some of the pain. Letting go of this pain may better help this man become relaxed and find peace. Even though he speaks about how he is going to put his worries aside, he later-in lines 27 through 30 wishes that he were dead because nothing can cure his blues. He sings the blues so long and intimately that when he finally becomes tired and goes to sleep, and he sleeps deeply.
The Weary Blues
"Ain't got nobody in all this world,
Ain't got nobody but ma self.
I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
And put ma troubles on the shelf."
"I got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied--
I ain't happy no mo'
And I wish that I had died."
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