Paul Laurence Dunbar Poems

STEP me now a bridal measure,
Work give way to love and leisure,
Hearts be free and hearts be gay --
Doctor Dan doth wed to-day.
...

It's hot to-day. The bees is buzzin'
Kinder don't-keer-like aroun'
An' fur off the warm air dances
O'er the parchin' roofs in town.
...

THE rain streams down like harp-strings from the sky;
The wind, that world-old harpist, sitteth by;
And ever as he sings his low refrain,
...

THOU art the soul of a summer's day,
Thou art the breath of the rose.
But the summer is fled
...

As lone I sat one summer's day,
With mien dejected, Love came by;
His face distraught, his locks astray,
...

The moon begins her stately ride
Across the summer sky;
The happy wavelets lash the shore,--
The tide is rising high.
...

De times is mighty stirrin' 'mong de people up ouah way,
Dey 'sputin' an' dey argyin' an' fussin' night an' day;
...

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,
...

The snow lies deep upon the ground,
And winter's brightness all around
Decks bravely out the forest sere,
...

Thou arrant robber, Death!
Couldst thou not find
Some lesser one than he
To rob of breath,--
...