The Complete Poems Of Paul Laurence Dunbar - Paul Laurence Dunbar

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my sickle to the grain.

      I labor hard, and toil and sweat,

      While others dream within the dell;

      But even while my brow is wet,

      I sing my song, and all is well.

      Sometimes the sun, unkindly hot,

      My garden makes a desert spot;

      Sometimes a blight upon the tree

      Takes all my fruit away from me;

      And then with throes of bitter pain

      Rebellious passions rise and swell;

      But—life is more than fruit or grain,

      And so I sing, and all is well.

      RETORT

      “Thou art a fool,” said my head to my heart,

      “Indeed, the greatest of fools thou art,

      To be led astray by the trick of a tress,

      By a smiling face or a ribbon smart;”

      And my heart was in sore distress.

      Then Phyllis came by, and her face was fair,

      The light gleamed soft on her raven hair;

      And her lips were blooming a rosy red.

      Then my heart spoke out with a right bold air:

      “Thou art worse than a fool, O head!”

      ACCOUNTABILITY

      Folks ain’t got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits;

      Him dat giv’ de squir’ls de bushtails made de bobtails fu’ de rabbits.

      Him dat built de gread big mountains hollered out de little valleys,

      Him dat made de streets an’ driveways wasn’t shamed to make de alleys.

      We is all constructed diff’ent, d’ain’t no two of us de same;

      We cain’t he’p ouah likes an’ dislikes, ef we’se bad we ain’t to blame.

      Ef we ‘se good, we need n’t show off, case you bet it ain’t ouah doin’

      We gits into su’ttain channels dat we jes’ cain’t he’p pu’suin’.

      But we all fits into places dat no othah ones could fill,

      An’ we does the things we has to, big er little, good er ill.

      John cain’t tek de place o’ Henry, Su an’ Sally ain’t alike;

      Bass ain’t nuthin’ like a suckah, chub ain’t nuthin’ like a pike.

      When you come to think about it, how it ‘s all planned out it ‘s splendid.

      Nuthin ‘s done er evah happens, ‘dout hit ‘s somefin’ dat ‘s intended;

      Don’t keer whut you does, you has to, an’ hit sholy beats de dickens,—

      Viney, go put on de kittle, I got one o’ mastah’s chickens.

      FREDERICK DOUGLASS

      A hush is over all the teeming lists,

      And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;

      A spirit brave has passed beyond the mists

      And vapors that obscure the sun of life.

      And Ethiopia, with bosom torn,

      Laments the passing of her noblest born.

      She weeps for him a mother’s burning tears—

      She loved him with a mother’s deepest love.

      He was her champion thro’ direful years,

      And held her weal all other ends above.

      When Bondage held her bleeding in the dust,

      He raised her up and whispered, “Hope and Trust.”

      For her his voice, a fearless clarion, rung

      That broke in warning on the ears of men;

      For her the strong bow of his power he strung,

      And sent his arrows to the very den

      Where grim Oppression held his bloody place

      And gloated o’er the mis’ries of a race.

      And he was no soft-tongued apologist;

      He spoke straightforward, fearlessly uncowed;

      The sunlight of his truth dispelled the mist,

      And set in bold relief each dark hued cloud;

      To sin and crime he gave their proper hue,

      And hurled at evil what was evil’s due.

      Through good and ill report he cleaved his way.

      Right onward, with his face set toward the heights,

      Nor feared to face the foeman’s dread array,—

      -

      The lash of scorn, the sting of petty spites.

      He dared the lightning in the lightning’s track,

      And answered thunder with his thunder back.

      When men maligned him, and their torrent wrath

      In furious imprecations o’er him broke,

      He kept his counsel as he kept his path;

      ‘T was for his race, not for himself he spoke.

      He knew the import of his Master’s call,

      And felt himself too mighty to be small.

      No miser in the good he held was he,—

      His kindness followed his horizon’s rim.

      His heart, his talents, and his hands were free

      To all who truly needed aught of him.

      Where poverty and ignorance were rife,

      He gave his bounty as he gave his life.

      The place and cause that first aroused his might

      Still proved its power until his latest day.

      In Freedom’s lists and for the aid of Right

      Still in the foremost rank he waged the fray;

      Wrong lived; his occupation was not gone.

      He died in action with his armor on!

      We weep for him, but we have touched his hand,

      And felt the magic of his presence nigh,

      The current that he sent throughout the land,

      The kindling spirit of his battle-cry.

      O’er all that holds us we shall triumph yet,

      And place our banner where his hopes were set!

      Oh, Douglass, thou hast passed beyond the shore,

      But still thy voice is ringing o’er the gale!

      Thou ‘st taught thy race how high her hopes may soar,

      And bade her seek the heights, nor faint, nor fail.

      She will not fail, she heeds thy stirring cry,

      She knows thy guardian spirit will be nigh,

      And, rising from beneath the chast’ning rod,

      She stretches out her

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