The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
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The
COMPLETE POEMS
of
PAUL LAURENCE
DUNBAR
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OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR | ||
Lyrics of Lowly Life | $1.25 | |
Lyrics of Lowly Life (Illustrated) | net | 1.60 |
Lyrics of the Hearth-Side | 1.25 | |
Lyrics of Love and Laughter | 1.25 | |
Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow | 1.25 | |
Poems of Cabin and Field (Illustrated) | net | 1.50 |
Candle Lightin' Time (Illustrated) | net | 1.50 |
When Malindy Sings (Illustrated) | net | 1.50 |
Li'l' Gal (Illustrated) | net | 1.50 |
Joggin' Erlong (Illustrated) | net | 1.50 |
Folks from Dixie (Illustrated) | net | 1.25 |
The Love of Landry | .40 | |
The Sport of the Gods | 1.50 | |
In Old Plantation Days (Illustrated) | 1.50 | |
The Heart of Happy Hollow (Illustrated) | 1.50 | |
The Fanatics | 1.50 | |
Christmas is a-Comin' | net | .25 |
Plantation Portraits | net | .25 |
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar | net | 2.00 |
Copyright 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905
By The Century Co.
Copyright 1897, 1898, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905
By The Curtis Publishing Co.
Copyright 1898
By The Outlook Co.
Copyright 1898
By J. B. Walker
Copyright 1903
By W. IL. Gannett
Copyright 1896, 1899, 1903, 1905, 1913
By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Published, October, 1913
DEDICATIONS
LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE
TO
MY MOTHER
•••
LYRICS OF THE HEARTHSIDE
TO
ALICE
•••
LYRICS OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER
TO
MISS CATHERINE IMPEY
•••
LYRICS OF SUNSHINE AND SHADOW
TO
MRS. FRANK CONOVER
WITH THANKS FOR HER LONG BELIEF
- Introduction to Lyrics of Lowly Life
- [Poems in order]
PAGE | ||
A bee that was searching for sweets one day | 19 | |
A blue-bell springs upon the ledge | 26 | |
A cloud fell down from the heavens | 288 | |
A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in | 8 | |
A hush is over all the teeming lists | 6 | |
A knock is at her door, but she is weak | 73 | |
A life was mine full of the close concern | 103 | |
A lilt and a swing | 226 | |
A little bird with plumage brown | 78 | |
A little dreaming by the way | 114 | |
A lover whom duty called over the wave | 29 | |
A maiden wept and, as a comforter | 11 | |
A man of low degree was sore oppressed | 111 | |
A song for the unsung heroes who rose in the country's need | 196 | |
A song is but a little thing | 4 | |
A youth went farming up and down | 55 | |
Across the hills and down the narrow ways | 120 | |
Adown the west a golden glow | 263 | |
Ah, Douglass, we have fall'n on evil days | 208 | |
Ah, I have changed, I do not know | 270 | |
Ah, love, my love is like a cry in the night | 222 | |
Ah me, it is cold and chill | 186 | |
Ah, Nora, my Nora, the light fades away | 62 | |
Ah, yes, it is sweet still to remember, | 31 | |
Ah, yes, the chapter ends to-day | 101 | |
Ain't it nice to have a mammy | 239 | |
Ain't nobody tol' you not a wo'd a-tall | 181 | |
Air a-gittin' cool an' coolah | 77 | |
All de night long twell de moon goes down | 253 | |
All hot and grimy from the road | 224 | |
Along by the river of ruin | 265 | |
An angel robed in spotless white | 65 | |
An old man planted and dug and tended | 60 | |
An old, worn harp that had been played | 17 | |
As a quiet little seedling | 12 | |
As in some dim baronial hall restrained | 94 | |
As lone I sat one summer's day | 122 | |
As some rapt gazer on the lowly carth | 106 | |
Ashes to ashes, dust unto dust | 103 | |
At the golden gate of song | 179 | |
Aye, lay him in his grave, the old dead year! | 105 | |
Back to the breast of thy mother | 113 | |
Because I had loved so deeply | 256 | |
Because you love me I have much achieved | 238 | |
Bedtime's come fu' little boys | 144 | |
Belated wanderer of the ways of spring | 179 | |
Beyond the years the answer lies | 41 | |
Bird of my lady's bower | 19 | |
Bones a-gittin' achy | 153 | |
Break me my bounds, and let me fly | 285 | |
Breezes blowin' middlin' brisk | 78 | |
Bring me the livery of no other man | 92 | |
By Mystic's banks I held my dream | 204 | |
By rugged ways and thro' the night | 215 | |
By the pool that I see in my dreams, dear love | 198 | |
By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass | 50 | |
Caught Susanner whistlin'; well | 149 | |
Come away to dreamin' town | 254 | |
Come, drink a stirrup cup with me | 125 | |
Come, essay a sprightly measure | 97 | |
Come on walkin' wid me, Lucy; 't ain't no time to mope erroun' | 164 | |
Come to the pane, draw the curtain apart | 120 | |
Come when the nights are bright with stars | 61 | |
Cool is the wind, for the summer is waning | 163 | |
Cover him over with daisies white | 258 | |
Daih's a moughty soothin' feelin' | 187 | |
Darling, my darling, my heart is on the wing | 202 | |
Days git wa'm an' wa'mah | 239 | |
De axes has been ringin' in de woods de blessid day | 143 | |
De breeze is blowin' 'cross de bay | 145 | |
De 'cession's stahted on de gospel way, | 194 | |
De daʼkest hour, dey allus say | 165 | |
De dog go howlin' 'long de road | 247 | |
De night creep down erlong de lan' | 166 | |
De ol' time's gone, de new time's hyeah | 192 | |
De sun hit shine an' de win' hit blow | 256 | |
De times is mighty stirrin' 'mong de people up ouah way | 158 | |
De trees is bendin' in de sto'm | 193 | |
De way t'ings come, hit seems to me | 225 | |
De win' is blowin' wahmah | 236 | |
De win' is hollahin' "Daih you" to de shuttahs an' de fiah | 174 | |
Dear critic, who my lightness so deplores | 189 | |
Dear heart, good-night! | 23 | |
Dear Miss Lucy: I been t'inkin' dat I'd write you long fo' dis | 151 | |
Deep in my heart that aches with the repression | 25 | |
Dey been speakin' at de cou't-house | 205 | |
Dey had a gread big pahty down to Tom's de othah night | 83 | |
Dey is snow upon the meddahs | 168 | |
Dey is times in life when Nature | 57 | |
Dey was oncet a awful quoil 'twixt de skillet an' de pot | 268 | |
Dey was talkin' in de cabin, dey was talkin' in de hall | 182 | |
Dey's a so't o' threatenin' feelin' in de blowin' of de breeze | 171 | |
Dinah stan' befo' de glass | 206 | |
Dis is gospel weathah sho'- | 26 | |
Do' a-stan'in' on a jar, fiah a-shinin' thoo | 196 | |
Dolly sits a-quilting by her mother, stitch by stitch | 240 | |
Done are the toils and the wearisome marches | 22 | |
Dream days of fond delight and hours | 287 | |
Dream on, for dreams are sweet | 100 | |
Driftwood gathered here and there | 277 | |
Duck come switchin' 'cross de lot | 275 | |
Ef dey's anyt'ing dat riles me | 141 | |
Ef you's only got de powah fe' to blow a little whistle | 250 | |
Eight of 'em hyeah all tol' an' yet | 243 | |
Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire | 115 | |
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes | 3 | |
Folks ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits | 5 | |
Folks is talkin' 'bout de money, 'bout de silvah an' de gold | 135 | |
Four hundred years ago a tangled waste | 47 | |
Fu' de peace o' my eachin' heels, set down | 222 | |
God has his plans, and what if we | 81 | |
"Good-bye," I said to my conscience | 31 | |
Goo'-by, Jinks, I got to hump | 64 | |
Good hunting!-aye, good hunting | 237 | |
Good-night, my love, for I have dreamed of thee | 93 | |
Granny's gone a-visitin' | 242 | |
Grass commence a-comin' | 176 | |
Gray are the pages of record | 205 | |
Gray is the palace where she dwells | 180 | |
G'way an' quit dat noise, Miss Lucy | 82 | |
Hain't you see my Mandy Lou | 173 | |
He had his dream, and all through life | 61 | |
He loved her, and through many years | 129 | |
He sang of life serenely sweet | 191 | |
He scribbles some in prose and verse, | 49 | |
Heart of my heart, the day is chill | 207 | |
Heart of the Southland, heed me pleading now | 216 | |
Heel and toe, heel and toe | 170 | |
Hello, ole man, you're a-gittin' gray | 80 | |
Hit's been drizzlin' an' been sprinklin' | 180 | |
Home agin, an' home to stay | 259 | |
How shall I woo thee to win thee, mine own? | 289 | |
How sweet the music sounded | 284 | |
How's a man to write a sonnet, can you tell | 114 | |
Hurt was the nation with a mighty wound | 184 | |
Hyeah come Cæsar Higgins | 145 | |
Hyeah dat singin' in de medders | 208 | |
"I am but clay," the sinner plead | 114 | |
I am no priest of crooks nor creeds | 38 | |
I am the mother of sorrows | 89 | |
I be'n down in ole Kentucky | 42 | |
I been t'inkin' 'bout de preachah; whut he said de othah night | 212 | |
I did not know that life could be so sweet | 252 | |
I done got 'uligion, honey, an' I's happy ez a king | 146 | |
I don't believe in 'ristercrats | 140 | |
I grew a rose once more to please mine eyes | 13 | |
I grew a rose within a garden fair | 12 | |
I had not known before | 240 | |
I has hyeahd o' people dancin' an' I's hyeahd o' people singin' | 156 | |
I have no fancy for that ancient cant | 94 | |
I have seen full many a sight | 188 | |
I held my heart so far from harm | 255 | |
I found you and I lost you | 251 | |
I know a man | 235 | |
I know my love is true | 58 | |
I know what the caged bird feels, alas! | 102 | |
I never shall furgit that night when father hitched up Dobbin | 42 | |
I sit upon the old sea wall. | 115 | |
I stand above the city's rush and din | 275 | |
I stood by the shore at the death of day | 69 | |
I think that though the clouds be dark | 53 | |
I was not; now I am—a few days hence | 17 | |
If Death should claim me for her own to-day | 210 | |
If life were but a dream, my Love | 75 | |
If the muse were mine to tempt it | 50 | |
If thro' the sea of night which here surrounds me | 256 | |
If 'twere fair to suppose | 258 | |
If you could sit with me beside the sea to-day | 21 | |
In a small and lonely cabin out of noisy traffic's way | 124 | |
In de dead of night I sometimes | 260 | |
In Life's Red Sea with faith I plant my feet | 110 | |
In the east the morning comes | 199 | |
In the heavy earth the miner | 107 | |
In the forenoon's restful quiet | 95 | |
In the silence of my heart | 110 | |
In this sombre garden close | 209 | |
In the tents of Akbar | 223 | |
In this old garden, fair, I walk to-day | 111 | |
I's a-gittin' weary of de way dat people do | 244 | |
I's boun' to see my gal to-night | 142 | |
I's feelin' kin' o' lonesome in my little room to-night | 202 | |
It is as if a silver chord | 216 | |
It may be misery not to sing at all | 225 | |
It was Chrismus Eve, I mind hit fu' a mighty gloomy day | 137 | |
It's all a farce,—these tales they tell | 56 | |
It's hot to-day. The bees is buzzin' | 279 | |
It's moughty tiahsome layin' 'roun' | 195 | |
I've a humble little motto | 46 | |
I've always been a faithful man | 267 | |
I've been list'nin' to them lawyers | 22 | |
I've been watchin' of 'em, parson | 39 | |
I've journeyed 'roun' consid'able, a-seein' men an' things | 147 | |
Jes' lak toddy wahns you thoo' | 148 | |
Just whistle a bit, if the day be dark | 98 | |
Key and bar, key and bar | 201 | |
Kiss me, Miami, thou most constant one! | 277 | |
Know you, winds that blow your course | 40 | |
Lay me down beneaf de willers in de grass | 142 | |
Lead gently, Lord, and slow | 98 | |
Let me close the eyes of my soul | 261 | |
Let those who will stride on their barren roads | 214 | |
'Lias! 'Lias! Bless de Lawd! | 190 | |
Like sea-washed sand upon the shore | 202 | |
Like the blush upon the rose | 282 | |
Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes | 134 | |
Little brown face full of smiles | 267 | |
Little lady at de do' | 177 | |
Long had I grieved at what I deemed abuse | 106 | |
Long since, in sore distress, I heard one pray | 123 | |
Long time ago, we too set out | 119 | |
Long years ago, within a distant clime | 104 | |
Love hath the wings of the butterfly | 117 | |
Love is the light of the world, my dear | 231 | |
Love me. I care not what the circling years | 89 | |
Love used to carry a bow, you know | 258 | |
Lucy done gone back on me | 136 | |
Mammy's in de kitchen, an' de do' is shet | 241 | |
Mastah drink his ol' Made'a | 213 | |
Men may sing of their Havanas, elevating to the stars | 129 | |
Mother's gone a-visitin' to spend a month er two | 79 | |
My cot was down by a cypress grove | 8 | |
My heart to thy heart | 13 | |
My lady love lives far away | 288 | |
My muvver's ist the nicest one | 247 | |
My neighbor lives on the hill | 192 | |
My soul, lost in the music's mist | 76 | |
Night, dim night, and it rains, my love, it rains | 227 | |
Night is for sorrow and dawn is for joy | 90 | |
Not o'er thy dust let there be spent | 18 | |
No matter what you call it | 287 | |
Not they who soar, but they who plod | 18 | |
Not to the midnight of the gloomy past | 214 | |
O li'l' lamb out in de col' | 133 | |
O Lord, the hard-won miles | 11 | |
O Mother Race! to thee I bring | 15 | |
October is the treasurer of the year | 63 | |
Oh, de clouds is mighty heavy | 169 | |
Oh, de grubbin'-hoe's a-rustin' in de co'nah | 67 | |
Oh, de weathah it is balmy an' de breeze is sighin' low | 207 | |
Oh, dere's lots o' keer an' trouble | 20 | |
Oh for the breath of the briny deep | 92 | |
Oh, I am hurt to death, my Love | 72 | |
Oh, I des received a letter f'om de sweetest little gal | 266 | |
Oh, I haven't got long to live, for we all | 48 | |
Oh, summer has clothed the earth | 91 | |
Oh the breeze is blowin' balmy | 262 | |
Oh, the day has set me dreaming | 107 | |
Oh, the little bird is rocking in the cradle of the wind | 245 | |
Oh, the poets may sing of their Lady Irenes | 26 | |
Oh to have you in May | 166 | |
Oh, what shall I do? I am wholly upset | 131 | |
Oh, who is the Lord of the land of life | 268 | |
Oh, who would be sad tho' the sky be a-graying | 236 | |
Oh, wind of the spring-time, oh, free wind of May | 221 | |
On a summer's day as I sat by a stream | 248 | |
On the wide veranda white | 59 | |
Once Love grew bold and arrogant of air | 102 | |
One night in my room, still and beamless | 109 | |
Our good knight, Ted, girds his broadsword on | 108 | |
Out in de night a sad bird moans | 194 | |
Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing | 64 | |
Out of my heart, one day, I wrote a song | 117 | |
Out of my heart, one treach'rous winter's day | 102 | |
Out of the sunshine and out of the heat | 167 | |
Outside the rain upon the street | 253 | |
Over the hills and the valleys of dreaming | 90 | |
Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day | 74 | |
Place this bunch of mignonette | 66 | |
Poor withered rose, she gave it me | 286 | |
Pray, what can dreams avail | 104 | |
Pray why are you so bare, so bare | 219 | |
Prometheus stole from Heaven the sacred fire | 117 | |
Ring out, ye bells! | 278 | |
Round the wide earth, from the red field your valour has won | 112 | |
Say a mass for my soul's repose, my brother | 211 | |
Search thou my heart | 116 | |
See dis pictyah in my han' | 144 | |
Seems lak folks is mighty curus | 139 | |
Seen my lady home las' night | 49 | |
Seen you down at chu'ch las' night | 60 | |
Shadder in de valley. | 226 | |
She gave a rose | 103 | |
She sang, and I listened the whole song thro' | 121 | |
She told the story, and the whole world wept | 119 | |
She told her beads with downcast eyes | 106 | |
She wrapped her soul in a lace of lies | 240 | |
Silence, and whirling worlds afar | 263 | |
Silently without my window | 54 | |
Since I left the city's heat | 263 | |
Slow de night's a-fallin' | 186 | |
Slow moves the pageant of a climbing race | 211 | |
So we, who've supped the selfsame cup | 40 | |
Some folks t'inks hit's right an' p'opah | 201 | |
Standin' at de winder | 253 | |
Step me now a bridal measure | 248 | |
Step wid de banjo an' glide wid de fiddle, | 269 | |
Storm and strife and stress | 227 | |
Summah night an' sighin' breeze | 132 | |
Summah's nice, wif sun a-shinin' | 132 | |
Summer is de lovin' time | 262 | |
Sunshine on de medders | 168 | |
Sweetest of the flowers a-blooming | 237 | |
Swing yo' lady roun' an' roun' | 200 | |
Tek a cool night, good an' cleah | 150 | |
Tell your love where the roses blow | 238 | |
Temples he built, and palaces of air | 100 | |
The air is dark, the sky is gray | 65 | |
The change has come, and Helen sleeps | 58 | |
The cloud looked in at the window | 72 | |
The draft of love was cool and sweet | 252 | |
The gray dawn on the mountain top | 248 | |
The gray of the sea, and the gray of the sky | 93 | |
The lake's dark breast | 8 | |
The lark is silent in his nest | 61 | |
The little bird sits in the nest and sings | 67 | |
The Midnight wooed the Morning-Star | 99 | |
The mist has left the greening plain | 252 | |
The moon begins her stately ride | 276 | |
The moon has left the sky, love | 46 | |
The night is dewy as a maiden's mouth | 64 | |
The November sun invites me | 282 | |
The poor man went to the rich man's doors | 106 | |
The rain streams down like harpstrings from the sky | 270 | |
The river sleeps beneath the sky | 9 | |
The sand-man he's a jolly old fellow | 235 | |
The sky of brightest gray seems dark | 59 | |
The smell of the sea in my nostrils | 91 | |
The snow lies deep upon the ground | 105 | |
The sun has slipped his tether | 100 | |
The sun hath shed its kindly light | 281 | |
The sun is low | 285 | |
The trees bend down along the stream | 249 | |
The wind is out in its rage to-night | 244 | |
The wind told the little leaves to hurry | 258 | |
The word is writ that he who runs may read | 209 | |
The world is a snob, and the man who wins | 118 | |
The young queen Nature, ever sweet and fair | 52 | |
Ther' ain't no use in all this strife | 49 | |
There are no beaten paths to Glory's height | 21 | |
There is a heaven, for ever, day by day | 106 | |
There's a fabulous story | 246 | |
There's a memory keeps a-runnin' | 10 | |
These are the days of elfs and fays | 251 | |
They please me not—these solemn songs | 125 | |
This is the debt I pay | 213 | |
This is to-day, a golden summer's day | 223 | |
This poem must be done to-day | 122 | |
Thou arrant robber, Death! | 284 | |
"Thou art a fool," said my head to my heart | 5 | |
Thou art my lute, by thee I sing | 109 | |
Thou art the soul of a summer's day | 271 | |
Though the winds be dank | 71 | |
Thy tones are silver melted into sound | 116 | |
Tim Murphy's gon' walkin' wid Maggie O'Neill | 261 | |
'Tis an old deserted homestead | 283 | |
'Tis better to set here beside the sea | 186 | |
'Tis fine to play | 235 | |
To me, like hauntings of a vagrant breath | 97 | |
Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane | 167 | |
'Twas the apple that in Eden | 251 | |
'Twas three an' thirty year ago | 27 | |
'Twixt a smile and a tear | 241 | |
Two little boots all rough an' wo' | 163 | |
Uncle John, he makes me tired | 73 | |
Underneath the autumn sky | 256 | |
Villain shows his indiscretion | 42 | |
Want to trade me, do you, mistah? Oh, well, now, I reckon not | 189 | |
We is gathahed hyeah, my brothahs | 13 | |
We wear the mask that grins and lies | 71 | |
W'en daih's chillun in de house | 199 | |
W'en de clouds is hangin' heavy in de sky | 176 | |
W'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street | 178 | |
W'en de evenin' shadders | 185 | |
W'en de snow's a-fallin' | 188 | |
W'en I git up in de mo'nin' an' de clouds is big an' black | 172 | |
W'en us fellers stomp around, makin' lots o' noise | 264 | |
W'en you full o' worry | 250 | |
What are the things that make life bright? | 238 | |
What dreams we have and how they fly | 166 | |
What if the wind do howl without | 75 | |
What says the wind to the waving trees? | 68 | |
What's the use o' folks a-frownin' | 249 | |
When all is done, and my last word is said | 113 | |
When August days are hot an' dry | 130 | |
When de fiddle gits to singin' out a ol' Vahginny reel | 138 | |
When first of wise old Johnson taught | 129 | |
When I come in f'm de co'n-fiel' aftah wo'kin' ha'd all day | 155 | |
When I was young I longed for Love | 98 | |
When labor is light and the morning is fair | 70 | |
When Phyllis sighs and from her eyes | 175 | |
When storms arise | 66 | |
When summer time has come, and all | 280 | |
When the bees are humming in the honeysuckle vine | 215 | |
When the corn's all cut and the bright stalks shine | 16 | |
When to sweet music my lady is dancing | 175 | |
When winter covering all the ground | 275 | |
When you and I were young, the days | 24 | |
Who dat knockin' at de do'? | 184 | |
Who say my hea't ain't true to you? | 133 | |
Whose little lady is you, chile | 198 | |
Whut dat you whisperin' keepin' f'om me? | 136 | |
Whut time 'd dat clock strike? | 254 | |
Whut you say, dah? huh, uh! chile | 153 | |
Why fades a dream? | 77 | |
Why was it that the thunder voice of Fate | 221 | |
Will I have some mo' dat pie? | 203 | |
Win' a-blowin' gentle so de san' lay low | 191 | |
Wintah, summah, snow er shine | 178 | |
Wintah time hit comin' | 241 | |
With sombre mien, the evening gray | 123 | |
With what thou gavest me, O Master | 276 | |
Within a London garret high | 96 | |
Woman's sho' a cur'ous critter, an' dey ain't no doubtin' dat | 170 | |
Yes, my ha't 's ez ha'd ez stone | 62 | |
Yesterday I held your hand | 257 | |
You ask why I am sad to-day | 220 | |
You bid me hold my peace | 286 | |
You kin talk about yer anthems | 53 | |
You'll be wonderin' whut's de reason | 131 | |
Your presence like a benison to me | 266 | |
Your spoken words are roses fine and sweet | 270 |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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