Paul Laurence Dunbar Poems

'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.
...

'Twas the apple that in Eden
Caused our father's primal fall;
And the Trojan War, remember --
'Twas an apple caused it all.
...

AN angel, robed in spotless white,
Bent down and kissed the sleeping Night.
Night woke to blush; the sprite was gone.
...

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,
...