Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar

‘Twas the apple that in Eden Caused our father’s primal fall; And the Trojan War, remember ‘Twas an apple caused […]

I have seen peoples come and go Alike the Ocean’d ebb and flow; I have seen kingdoms rise and fall […]

I am the mother of sorrows, I am the ender of grief; I am the bud and the blossom, I […]

It’s all a farce,-these tales they tell About the breezes sighing, And moans astir o’er field and dell, Because the […]

It may be misery not to sing at all, And to go silent through the brimming day; It may be […]

Ah, Douglass, we have fall’n on evil days, Such days as thou, not even thou didst know, When thee, the […]

There is a heaven, for ever, day by day, The upward longing of my soul doth tell me so. There […]

Because you love me I have much achieved, Had you despised me then I must have failed, But since I […]

WHO dat knockin’ at de do’? Why, Ike Johnson, yes, fu’ sho! Come in, Ike. I’s mighty glad You come […]

Wintah, summah, snow er shine, Hit’s all de same to me, Ef only I kin call you mine, An’ keep […]

I like to hear of wealth and gold, And El Doradoes in their glory; I like for silks and satins […]

If I could but forget The fullness of those first sweet days, When you burst sun-like thro’ the haze Of […]

I Found you and I lost you, All on a gleaming day. The day was filled with sunshine, And the […]

DO’ a-stan’in’ on a jar, fiah a-shinin’ Thoo, Ol’ folks drowsin’ ‘roun’ de place, Wide awake is Lou, W’en I […]

He was a poet who wrote clever verses, And folks said he had a fine poetical taste; But his father, […]

We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, This debt we pay […]

FOLKS ain’t got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits; Him dat giv’ de squir’ls de bushtails made […]

Dey is times in life when Nature Seems to slip a cog an’ go, Jes’ a-rattlin’ down creation, Lak an […]

Air a-gittin’ cool an’ coolah, Frost a-comin’ in de night, Hicka’ nuts an’ wa’nuts fallin’, Possum keepin’ out o’ sight. […]

I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind […]