Paul Laurence Dunbar

"Dey was oncet a awful quoil 'twixt de skillet an' de pot;     De pot was des a-bilin' an' de skillet sho' was hot.     Dey slurred each othah's"

"Deep in my heart that aches with the repression,     And strives with plenitude of bitter pain,     There lives a thought that clamors for expre"

"My lady love lives far away,     And oh my heart is sad by day,     And ah my tears fall fast by night,     What may I do in such a plight."

"Hit 's been drizzlin' an' been sprinklin',     Kin' o' techy all day long.     I ain't wet enough fu' toddy,     I 's too damp to raise a song,"

"Pray, what can dreams avail     To make love or to mar?     The child within the cradle rail     Lies dreaming of the star.     But is the sta"

"A little bird, with plumage brown,     Beside my window flutters down,     A moment chirps its little strain,     Ten taps upon my window-pane,"

"I've been watchin' of 'em, parson,     An' I'm sorry fur to say     'At my mind is not contented     With the loose an' keerless way     'At t"

"Jes' lak toddy wahms you thoo'     Sets yo' haid a reelin',     Meks you ovah good and new,     Dat 's de way I 's feelin'.     Seems to me hi"

"Gray is the palace where she dwells,     Grimly the poplars stand     There by the window where she sits,     My Lady of Castle Grand.     Th"

"Come to the pane, draw the curtain apart,     There she is passing, the girl of my heart;     See where she walks like a queen in the street,"

"Come, drink a stirrup cup with me,     Before we close our rouse.     You 're all aglow with wine, I know:     The master of the house,     Un"

"Oh, dere 's lots o' keer an' trouble     In dis world to swaller down;     An' ol' Sorrer 's purty lively     In her way o' gittin' roun'."

"The lark is silent in his nest,     The breeze is sighing in its flight,     Sleep, Love, and peaceful be thy rest.     Good-night, my love, go"

"When the bees are humming in the honeysuckle vine     And the summer days are in their bloom,     Then my love is deepest, oh, dearest heart of"

"Like the blush upon the rose     When the wooing south wind speaks,     Kissing soft its petals,     Are thy cheeks.     Tender, soft, beseec"

"W'en de clouds is hangin' heavy in de sky,     An' de win's 's a-taihin' moughty vig'rous by,     I don' go a-sighin' all erlong de way;     I"

"It was Chrismus Eve, I mind hit fu' a mighty gloomy day--     Bofe de weathah an' de people--not a one of us was gay;     Cose you 'll t'ink dat"

"Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day,     Few are my years, but my griefs are not few,     Ever to youth should each day be a May-day,"

"Dear heart, good-night!     Nay, list awhile that sweet voice singing     When the world is all so bright,     And the sound of song sets the h"

"A cloud fell down from the heavens,     And broke on the mountain's brow;     It scattered the dusky fragments     All over the vale below."

"He had his dream, and all through life,     Worked up to it through toil and strife.     Afloat fore'er before his eyes,     It colored for him"

""Break me my bounds, and let me fly     To regions vast of boundless sky;     Nor I, like piteous Daphne, be     Root-bound. Ah, no! I would be"

"Men may sing of their Havanas, elevating to the stars     The real or fancied virtues of their foreign-made cigars;     But I worship Nicotina a"

"We wear the mask that grins and lies,     It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--     This debt we pay to human guile;     With torn and ble"

"Ain't nobody nevah tol' you not a wo'd a-tall,     'Bout de time dat all de critters gin dey fancy ball?     Some folks tell it in a sto'y, some"

"Out in de night a sad bird moans,     An', oh, but hit 's moughty lonely;     Times I kin sing, but mos' I groans,     Fu' oh, but hit 's mough"

"What if the wind do howl without,     And turn the creaking weather-vane;     What if the arrows of the rain     Do beat against the window-pan"

"Yesterday I held your hand,     Reverently I pressed it,     And its gentle yieldingness     From my soul I blessed it.     But to-day I sit"

"Back to the breast of thy mother,     Child of the earth!     E'en her caress can not smother     What thou hast done.     Follow the trail of"

"How shall I woo thee to win thee, mine own?     Say in what tongue shall I tell of my love.     I who was fearless so timid have grown,     All"

"You kin talk about yer anthems     An' yer arias an' sich,     An' yer modern choir-singin'     That you think so awful rich;     But you orte"

"I     Love is the light of the world, my dear,     Heigho, but the world is gloomy;     The light has failed and the lamp down hurled,     Leaves"

"He sang of life, serenely sweet,     With, now and then, a deeper note.     From some high peak, nigh yet remote,     He voiced the world's abs"

"Granny's gone a-visitin',     Seen huh git huh shawl     W'en I was a-hidin' down     Hime de gyahden wall.     Seen huh put her bonnet on,"

"I stood by the shore at the death of day,     As the sun sank flaming red;     And the face of the waters that spread away     Was as gray as t"

"Dear Miss Lucy: I been t'inkin' dat I 'd write you long fo' dis,     But dis writin' 's mighty tejous, an' you know jes' how it is.     But I 's"

"A little dreaming by the way,     A little toiling day by day;     A little pain, a little strife,     A little joy,--and that is life.     A"

"I held my heart so far from harm,     I let it wander far and free     In mead and mart, without alarm,     Assured it must come back to me."

"You ask why I am sad to-day,     I have no cares, no griefs, you say?     Ah, yes, 't is true, I have no grief--     But--is there not the fall"

"The moon has left the sky, love,     The stars are hiding now,     And frowning on the world, love,     Night bares her sable brow.     The sn"

"I done got 'uligion, honey, an' I 's happy ez a king;     Evahthing I see erbout me 's jes' lak sunshine in de spring;     An' it seems lak I"

"Like sea-washed sand upon the shore,     So fine and clean the tale,     So clear and bright I almost see,     The flashing of a sail.     Th"

"Little lady at de do',     W'y you stan' dey knockin'?     Nevah seen you ac' befo'     In er way so shockin'.     Don' you know de sin it is"

"So we, who 've supped the self-same cup,     To-night must lay our friendship by;     Your wrath has burned your judgment up,     Hot breath ha"

"In a small and lonely cabin out of noisy traffic's way,     Sat an old man, bent and feeble, dusk of face, and hair of gray,     And beside him"

"By rugged ways and thro' the night     We struggle blindly toward the light;     And groping, stumbling, ever pray     For sight of long delayi"

"When August days are hot an' dry,     When burning copper is the sky,     I 'd rather fish than feast or fly     In airy realms serene and high"

"I've always been a faithful man     An' tried to live for duty,     But the stringent mode of life     Has somewhat lost its beauty.     The"

"Whut you say, dah? huh, uh! chile,     You 's enough to dribe me wile.     Want a sto'y; jes' hyeah dat!     Whah' 'll I git a sto'y at?     D"

"Oh, the poets may sing of their Lady Irenes,     And may rave in their rhymes about wonderful queens;     But I throw my poetical wings to the b"

"De win' is blowin' wahmah,     An hit's blowin' f'om de bay;     Dey's a so't o' mist a-risin'     All erlong de meddah way;     Dey ain't a h"

"I 've journeyed 'roun' consid'able, a-seein' men an' things,     An' I 've learned a little of the sense that meetin' people brings;     But in"

"Cover him over with daisies white     And eke with the poppies red,     Sit with me here by his couch to-night,     For the First-Born, Love, i"

"Hyeah dat singin' in de medders     Whaih de folks is mekin' hay?     Wo'k is pretty middlin' heavy     Fu' a man to be so gay.     You kin te"

"Oh, de weathah it is balmy an' de breeze is sighin' low.         Li'l' gal,     An' de mockin' bird is singin' in de locus' by de do',"

"Who say my hea't ain't true to you?     Dey bettah heish dey mouf.     I knows I loves you thoo an' thoo     In watah time er drouf.     I wus"

"Oh, I am hurt to death, my Love;     The shafts of Fate have pierced my striving heart,     And I am sick and weary of     The endless pain and"

"Out of my heart, one day, I wrote a song,     With my heart's blood imbued,     Instinct with passion, tremulously strong,     With grief subdu"

"My soul, lost in the music's mist,     Roamed, rapt, 'neath skies of amethyst.     The cheerless streets grew summer meads,     The Son of Phoe"

"I have seen full many a sight     Born of day or drawn by night:     Sunlight on a silver stream,     Golden lilies all a-dream,     Lofty mou"