Stephen C. Foster Poems

Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd a way!
...

THE morn of life is past,
And ev'ning comes at last;
It brings me a dream of a once happy day,
Of merry forms I've seen
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De Camptown ladies sing dis song -- [Chorus] Doo-dah! doo-dah!
[Solo] De Camp-town race-track five miles long -- [Chorus] Oh! doo-dah day!
[Solo] I come down dah wid my hat caved in -- Doo-dah! doo-dah!
I go back home wid a pocket full of tin -- [Chorus] Oh! doo-dah day!
...

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
2 'Tis summer, the darkies are gay,
3 The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom
4 While the birds make music all the day.
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1 Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay,
2 Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away,
3 Gone from the earth to a better land I know,
4 I hear their gentle voices calling 'Old Black Joe.'
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1 I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
2 Borne, like a vapor, on the summer air;
3 I see her tripping where the bright streams play,
4 Happy as the daisies that dance on her way.
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1 I came from Alabama
2 wid my ban jo on my knee,
3 I'm g'wan to Louisiana,
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De time is nebber dreary if de darkey nebber groans;
De ladies nebber weary wid de rattle of de bones:
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1 Way down upon de Swanee ribber,
2 Far, far away,
3 Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber,
4 Dere's wha de old folks stay.
5 All up and down de whole creation
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Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
...