diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index 82b1b09..ffd6cde 100644
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -138,11 +138,10 @@ static unsigned int cols = 80;
 static unsigned int rows = 24;
 
 /*
- * Default colour and shape of the mouse cursor
+ * Default shape of the mouse cursor
  */
-static unsigned int mouseshape = XC_xterm;
-static unsigned int mousefg = 7;
-static unsigned int mousebg = 0;
+
+static char* mouseshape = "xterm";
 
 /*
  * Color used to display font attributes when fontconfig selected a font which
diff --git a/config.mk b/config.mk
index 039c42c..a0cb4fd 100644
--- a/config.mk
+++ b/config.mk
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ X11LIB = /usr/X11R6/lib
 INCS = -I$(X11INC) \
        `pkg-config --cflags fontconfig` \
        `pkg-config --cflags freetype2`
-LIBS = -L$(X11LIB) -lm -lrt -lX11 -lutil -lXft \
+LIBS = -L$(X11LIB) -lm -lrt -lX11 -lutil -lXft -lXcursor \
        `pkg-config --libs fontconfig` \
        `pkg-config --libs freetype2`
 
diff --git a/x.c b/x.c
index c343ba2..5a7461e 100644
--- a/x.c
+++ b/x.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <X11/keysym.h>
 #include <X11/Xft/Xft.h>
 #include <X11/XKBlib.h>
+#include <X11/Xcursor/Xcursor.h>
 
 static char *argv0;
 #include "arg.h"
@@ -1076,23 +1079,9 @@ xinit(int cols, int rows)
 		die("XCreateIC failed. Could not obtain input method.\n");
 
 	/* white cursor, black outline */
-	cursor = XCreateFontCursor(xw.dpy, mouseshape);
+        cursor = XcursorLibraryLoadCursor(xw.dpy, mouseshape);
 	XDefineCursor(xw.dpy, xw.win, cursor);
 
-	if (XParseColor(xw.dpy, xw.cmap, colorname[mousefg], &xmousefg) == 0) {
-		xmousefg.red   = 0xffff;
-		xmousefg.green = 0xffff;
-		xmousefg.blue  = 0xffff;
-	}
-
-	if (XParseColor(xw.dpy, xw.cmap, colorname[mousebg], &xmousebg) == 0) {
-		xmousebg.red   = 0x0000;
-		xmousebg.green = 0x0000;
-		xmousebg.blue  = 0x0000;
-	}
-
-	XRecolorCursor(xw.dpy, cursor, &xmousefg, &xmousebg);
-
 	xw.xembed = XInternAtom(xw.dpy, "_XEMBED", False);
 	xw.wmdeletewin = XInternAtom(xw.dpy, "WM_DELETE_WINDOW", False);
 	xw.netwmname = XInternAtom(xw.dpy, "_NET_WM_NAME", False);