The speaker begins by introducing a dream, or a vision for the future: that of being a composer and writing songs about Alabama mornings.
The text we're using in this guide sticks to that of the original poem, though Hughes cut the word “colored” (a segregation-era term for Black people) in a later publication. In any case, its inclusion in this original version identifies the speaker as a person of color. It's also significant that the “daybreak” the speaker wants to write music about is in Alabama, one of the states in the American South where segregation laws keeping Black people separate from white people were especially strict. Together, these facts suggest that “daybreak” here refers not just to a literal sunrise but also to the speaker’s longing for a fresh start for race relations in the United States.
What’s more, the poem announces the speaker’s wish to compose music someday, when the speaker “get[s] to be” a “composer.” The fact that that wish lies in an indeterminate future implies that it is still a long way from being fulfilled.
Meanwhile, the colloquial phrase “I’m gonna write me,” common both in Southern slang and in African American Vernacular English, is appropriate given the poem’s setting. It also establishes the speaker’s tone as informal and even intimate, as if sharing a deeply personal wish with a close friend.
Adding to this feeling of informality is the fact that the lines have no regular meter; the poem is written in free verse, which keeps things feeling free-flowing and conversational. Enjambment adds to the effect, as the opening lines here spill right across the line breaks and help the poem pick up speed.
Just because the poem doesn't have a meter or rhyme scheme, however, doesn't mean that it lacks music. For example, the alliteration of sharp /c/ sounds in the phrase “colored composer” adds boldness to the speaker's vision and also helps underscore the speaker’s identity as a person of color.