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By The Stream

By Paul Laurence Dunbar

Topics: classic

By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass,     How the clouds like crowds of snowy-hued and white-robed maidens pass,     And the water into ripples breaks and sparkles as it spreads,     Like a host of armored knights with silver helmets on their heads.     And I deem the stream an emblem fit of human life may go,     For I find a mind may sparkle much and yet but shallows show,     And a soul may glow with myriad lights and wondrous mysteries,     When it only lies a dormant thing and mirrors what it sees.

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Author:Paul Laurence Dunbar

"By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch a..." by Paul Laurence Dunbar

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Paul Laurence Dunbar

About Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) was an American poet and novelist who was one of the first African-American writers to gain national prominence. His poems in dialect—including "When Malindy Sings"—and standard English explore Black life with humor, pathos, and dignity.

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