Can you please paraphrase the three parts of the poem by Langston Hughes titled "Cross"?

The three stanzas of Langston Hughes’ poem titled “Cross” might
be paraphrased as follows:

• STANZA ONE: In line 1, the
  speaker announces that his father is white; in line 2, he announces that his mother is white; in
  lines 3 and 4 he says that if he ever in the past condemned his father, he now withdraws that
  condemnation.


• STANZA TWO: In lines 5 and 6 he announces that if he
  ever in the past condemned his mother and “wished she were in
  hell,”

I'm
sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.
(7-8)

• STANZA THREE: In line
  9, the speaker announces that his father passed away in a nice white house. In line 10 he
  announces that he mother passed away in a small, run-down hovel. In lines 11-12 he wonders where
  he himself will pass away, since he belongs entirely neither to the white race nor the black
  race.

More interesting than the plain meaning of the
poem, however, are some of its possible implications. For example, the phrase “old man” in line 1
at first seems figurative (meaning “father”) but may also be literal (“an aged male”). The fact
that both the father and mother are described as old prepares us for the eventual references to
their deaths. In the first stanza, however, the speaker refers to them as if they were still
living, so that the later references to their deaths come as a bit of a
shock.

In lines 3 and 4, the speaker invites us to wonder
why he may have “cursed” his “old man.” Did he curse his father because of
natural tensions between father and son? Or, since the differing races of the father and mother
have been mentioned and emphasized explicitly, did the son curse his father for making the son a
mulatto, so that he belonged securely to neither race?

Similar
questions are raised by the second stanza, but note that the emotions implied in this stanza are
far more intense than the emotions implied in stanza one. The speaker may merely have “cursed”
(5) his father, but apparently he wished his mother “were in hell” – a wish he now acknowledges
was “evil” (7). Ironically, his very willingness to condemn himself for “evil” thoughts in the
past makes him now seem morally attractive. The second halves of the first two stanzas imply the
speaker’s sense of conscience. He has apparently felt as conflicted in his emotions (torn between
anger and forgiveness) as he is divided in his racial
backgrounds.

From stanza three, it appears that the speaker’s father
was wealthy and that his mother was poor. This fact leads us to wonder how, exactly, this man and
this woman came together to produce their son. Did the father take advantage of the mother? Did
the mother offer herself (perhaps for pay) to the father? Were they in love but prevented by
social prejudice from acknowledging their love?

Apparently the
father and mother never married (which would have been difficult in the early twentieth century).
Presumably the son was raised by the mother. Ironically, did his physical closeness to her make
him all the more bitter toward her? In any case, by the end of the poem the speaker is left
alone. Both of his parents have passed away, and he is left to wonder how he will make his way in
a society he knows is racist – a society in which mulattos may be fully accepted neither by
whites nor by blacks.

Although Hughes’ poem does
not tell a detailed or complicated story, it
certainly implies such a story, thereby provoking readers’ curiosity and
their thoughts.