Paul Laurence Dunbar Poems

Out of my heart, one treach'rous winter's day,
I locked young Love and threw the key away.
Grief, wandering widely, found the key,
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THE air is dark, the sky is gray,
The misty shadows come and go,
And here within my dusky room
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OUTSIDE the rain upon the street,
The sky all grim of hue,
Inside, the music-painful sweet,
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What dreams we have and how they fly
Like rosy clouds across the sky;
Of wealth, of fame, of sure success,
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WHAT'S the use o' folks a-frownin'
When the way's a little rough?
Frowns lay out the road fur smilin'
You'll be wrinkled soon enough.
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I HAD not known before
Forever was so long a word.
The slow stroke of the clock of time
I had not heard.
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She told the story, and the whole world wept
At wrongs and cruelties it had not known
But for this fearless woman's voice alone.
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Pray why are you so bare, so bare,
Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;
And why, when I go through the shade you throw,
Runs a shudder over me?
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Come when the nights are bright with stars
Or when the moon is mellow;
Come when the sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay-field yellow.
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