Paul Laurence Dunbar Poems

DO' a-stan'in' on a jar, fiah a-shinin'
thoo,
Ol' folks drowsin' 'roun' de place,
wide awake is Lou,
...

'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 free
...

October is the treasurer of the year,
And all the months pay bounty to her store;
The fields and orchards still their tribute bear,
...

I know a little country place
Where still my heart doth linger,
And o'er its fields is every grace
...

A lilt and a swing,
And a ditty to sing,
Or ever the night grow old;
The wine is within,
...

AFTER READING 'LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT.'

Lead gently, Lord, and slow,
For oh, my steps are weak,
...

THE YOUNG MASTER ASKS FOR A STORY

Whut you say, dah? huh, uh! chile,
You 's enough to dribe me wile.
...

ON the wide veranda white,
In the purple failing light,
Sits the master while the sun is lowly burning;
And his dreamy thoughts are drowned
...

Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane,
Treat me nice.
Dough my love has tu'ned my brain,
...

Acrust of bread and a corner to sleep in,
A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,
A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,
...