Poetry 144: Dream Deferred

I first read this because it was included in the prologue of the play A Raisin in the Sun. I immediately fell in love with it and continue to interpret it in new ways.

A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

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?