The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar

Name: The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar

kostenlos · 89.451 Wörter · ~6 Std. Lesezeit

Text von Project Gutenberg

scroll mal ↓weiter ↓

(von vorn beginnen)

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO
"LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"

BY

W. D. HOWELLS

NEW YORK

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY

1922

PRINTED IN U. S. A.

DEDICATIONS

LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

MY MOTHER

LYRICS OF THE HEARTHSIDE

ALICE

LYRICS OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER

MISS CATHERINE IMPEY

LYRICS OF SUNSHINE AND SHADOW

MRS. FRANK CONOVER WITH THANKS FOR HER LONG BELIEF

INTRODUCTION TO LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

I think I should scarcely trouble the reader with a special appeal in behalf of this book, if it had not specially appealed to me for reasons apart from the author's race, origin, and condition. The world is too old now, and I find myself too much of its mood, to care for the work of a poet because he is black, because his father and mother were slaves, because he was, before and after he began to write poems, an elevator-boy. These facts would certainly attract me to him as a man, if I knew him to have a literary ambition, but when it came to his literary art, I must judge it irrespective of these facts, and enjoy or endure it for what it was in itself.

It seems to me that this was my experience with the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar when I found it in another form, and in justice to him I cannot wish that it should be otherwise with his readers here. Still, it will legitimately interest those who like to know the causes, or, if these may not be known, the sources, of things, to learn that the father and mother of the first poet of his race in our language were negroes without admixture of white blood. The father escaped from slavery in Kentucky to freedom in Canada, while there was still no hope of freedom otherwise; but the mother was freed by the events of the civil war, and came North to Ohio, where their son was born at Dayton, and grew up with such chances and mischances for mental training as everywhere befall the children of the poor. He has told me that his father picked up the trade of a plasterer, and when he had taught himself to read, loved chiefly to read history. The boy's mother shared his passion for literature, with a special love of poetry, and after the father died she struggled on in more than the poverty she had shared with him. She could value the faculty which her son showed first in prose sketches and attempts at fiction, and she was proud of the praise and kindness they won him among the people of the town, where he has never been without the warmest and kindest friends.

In fact from every part of Ohio and from several cities of the adjoining States, there came letters in cordial appreciation of the critical recognition which it was my pleasure no less than my duty to offer Paul Dunbar's work in another place. It seemed to me a happy omen for him that so many people who had known him, or known of him, were glad of a stranger's good word; and it was gratifying to see that at home he was esteemed for the things he had done rather than because as the son of negro slaves he had done them. If a prophet is often without honor in his own country, it surely is nothing against him when he has it. In this case it deprived me of the glory of a discoverer; but that is sometimes a barren joy, and I am always willing to forego it.

What struck me in reading Mr. Dunbar's poetry was what had already struck his friends in Ohio and Indiana, in Kentucky and Illinois. They had felt, as I felt, that however gifted his race had proven itself in music, in oratory, in several of the other arts, here was the first instance of an American negro who had evinced innate distinction in literature. In my criticism of his book I had alleged Dumas in France, and I had forgetfully failed to allege the far greater Pushkin in Russia; but these were both mulattoes, who might have been supposed to derive their qualities from white blood vastly more artistic than ours, and who were the creatures of an environment more favorable to their literary development. So far as I could remember, Paul Dunbar was the only man of pure African blood and of American civilization to feel the negro life aesthetically and express it lyrically. It seemed to me that this had come to its most modern consciousness in him, and that his brilliant and unique achievement was to have studied the American negro objectively, and to have represented him as he found him to be, with humor, with sympathy, and yet with what the reader must instinctively feel to be entire truthfulness. I said that a race which had come to this effect in any member of it, had attained civilization in him, and I permitted myself the imaginative prophecy that the hostilities and the prejudices which had so long constrained his race were destined to vanish in the arts; that these were to be the final proof that God had made of one blood all nations of men. I thought his merits positive and not comparative; and I held that if his black poems had been written by a white man, I should not have found them less admirable. I accepted them as an evidence of the essential unity of the human race, which does not think or feel, black in one and white in another, but humanly in all.

Yet it appeared to me then, and it appears to me now, that there is a precious difference of temperament between the races which it would be a great pity ever to lose, and that this is best preserved and most charmingly suggested by Mr. Dunbar in those pieces of his where he studies the moods and traits of his race in its own accent of our English. We call such pieces dialect pieces for want of some closer phrase, but they are really not dialect so much as delightful personal attempts and failures for the written and spoken language. In nothing is his essentially refined and delicate art so well shown as in these pieces, which, as I ventured to say, described the range between appetite and emotion, with certain lifts far beyond and above it, which is the range of the race. He reveals in these a finely ironical perception of the negro's limitations, with a tenderness for them which I think so very rare as to be almost quite new. I should say, perhaps, that it was this humorous quality which Mr. Dunbar had added to our literature, and it would be this which would most distinguish him, now and hereafter. It is something that one feels in nearly all the dialect pieces; and I hope that in the present collection he has kept all of these in his earlier volume, and added others to them. But the contents of this book are wholly of his own choosing, and I do not know how much or little he may have preferred the poems in literary English. Some of these I thought very good, and even more than very good, but not distinctively his contribution to the body of American poetry. What I mean is that several people might have written them; but I do not know any one else at present who could quite have written the dialect pieces. These are divinations and reports of what passes in the hearts and minds of a lowly people whose poetry had hitherto been inarticulately expressed in music, but now finds, for the first time in our tongue, literary interpretation of a very artistic completeness.

I say the event is interesting, but how important it shall be can be determined only by Mr. Dunbar's future performance. I cannot undertake to prophesy concerning this; but if he should do nothing more than he has done, I should feel that he had made the strongest claim for the negro in English literature that the negro has yet made. He has at least produced something that, however we may critically disagree about it, we cannot well refuse to enjoy; in more than one piece he has produced a work of art.

W. D. HOWELLS.

INDEX OF TITLES

Absence 93
Accountability 5
Advice 250
After a Visit 42
After many Days 267
After the Quarrel 40
After While 53
Alexander Crummell—Dead 113
Alice 40
Anchored 256
Angelina 138
Ante-Bellum Sermon, An 13
Appreciation 247
At Candle-Lightin' Time 155
At Cheshire Cheese 129
At Loafing-Holt 263
At Night 254
At Sunset Time 263
At the Tavern 226
Awakening, The 252

Back-Log Song, A 143
Ballad 58
Ballade 204
Banjo Song, A 20
Barrier, The 99
Behind the Arras 94
Bein' Back Home 259
Beyond the Years 41
Black Samson of Brandywine 205
Blue 253
Bohemian, The 92
Boogah Man, The 185
Booker T. Washington 209
Border Ballad, A 48
Boys' Summer Song, A 235
Breaking the Charm 149
Bridal Measure, A 97
By Rugged Ways 215
By the Stream 50

Cabin Tale, A 153
Capture, The 275
Career, A 285
Change Has Come, The 58
Change, The 258
Changing Time 72
Chase, The 258
Choice, A 125
Christmus Is A-Comin' 153
Christmas on the Plantation 137
Christmas 269
Christmas Carol 278
Christmas Folksong, A 236
Christmas in the Heart 105
Circumstances Alter Cases 261
Colored Band, The 178
Colored Soldiers, The 50
Columbian Ode 47
Communion 110
Comparison 59
Compensation 256
Confessional 116
Confidence, A 73
Conquerors, The 112
Conscience and Remorse 31
Coquette Conquered, A 62
Corn-song, A 59
Corn-Stalk Fiddle, The 16
Crisis, The 111
Curiosity 241
Curtain 42

Dance, The 170
Dat Ol' Mare O' Mine 189
Dawn 65
Day 248
Deacon Jones' Grievance 39
Dead 73
Death 227
Death of the First Born, The 258
Death Song, A 142
Debt, The 213
De Critters' Dance 181
Delinquent, The 64
Dely 148
Deserted Plantation, The 67
Despair 261
De Way T'ings Come 225
Differences 192
Dilettante, The: A Modern Type 49
Dinah Kneading Dough 188
Diplomacy 238
Dirge 66
Dirge for a Soldier 199
Disappointed 60
Discovered 60
Discovery, The 251
Distinction 114
Disturber, The 131
Douglass 208
Dove, The 167
Dream Song I 104
Dream Song II 104
Dreamer, The 100
Dreamin' Town 254
Dreams 100
Dreams 166
Drizzle 180
Drowsy Day, A 65

Easy-Goin' Feller, An 49
Encouraged 238
Encouragement 184
End of the Chapter, The 101
Equipment 276
Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes 3
Evening 276
Expectation 131

Faith 244
Farewell to Arcady 123
Farm Child's Lullaby, The 245
Fisher Child's Lullaby, The 244
Fishing 172
Florida Night, A 191
Foolin' wid de Seasons 139
For the Man who Fails 118
Forest Greeting, The 237
Forever 240
Fount of Tears, The 224
Frederick Douglass 6
Frolic, A 200
From the Porch at Runnymede 275

Garret, The 96
Golden Day, A 251
Good-Night 61
Gourd, The 107
Grievance, A 188
Growin' Gray 80

Harriet Beecher Stowe 119
Haunted Oak, The 219
He Had His Dream 61
Her Thought and His 93
Hope 247
How Lucy Backslid 158
How Shall I Woo Thee 289
"Howdy, Honey, Howdy!" 196
Hunting Song 150
Hymn 66
Hymn 133
Hymn, A 98

If 75
Ione 31
In An English Garden 111
In August 130
In May 166
In Summer 91
In Summer Time 280
In the Morning 190
In the Tends of Akbar 223
Inspiration 179
Invitation to Love 61
Itching Heels 222

James Whitcomb Riley 287
Jealous 145
Jilted 136
Joggin' Erlong 165
Johnny Speaks 235
Just Whistle a Bit 98

Keep a-pluggin' Away 46
Keep a Song up on de Way 169
Kidnaped 255
King Is Dead, The 105
Knight, The 108

Lapse, The 122
Lawyers' Ways, The 22
Lazy Day, The 249
Lesson, The 8
Letter, A 151
Life 8
Life's Tragedy 225
Li'l' Gal 207
Lily of the Valley, The 237
Limitations 250
Lincoln 184
Little Brown Baby 134
Little Christmas Basket, A 174
Little Lucy Landman 107
Liza May 267
Lonesome 79
Long Ago 192
'Long to'ds Night 187
Longing 21
Looking-Glass, The 206
Lost Dream, A 270
Love 103
Love and Grief 102
Love Despoiled 122
Love Letter, A 266
Love-Song 210
Love Song, A 222
Lover and the Moon, The 29
Lover's Lane 132
Love's Apotheosis 89
Love's Castle 201
Love's Draft 252
Love's Humility 106
Love's Phases 117
Love's Pictures 282
Love's Seasons 215
Lullaby 144
Lyric, A 288

Madrigal, A 287
Mare Rubrum 110
Master-Player The 17
Masters, The 258
Meadow Lark, The 71
Melancholia 54
Memory of Martha, The 194
Merry Autumn 56
Misty Day, A 207
Misapprehension 117
Monk's Walk, The 209
Morning 252
Morning Song of Love 202
Mortality 103
My Corn-Cob Pipe 129
My Lady of Castle Grand 180
My Little March Girl 120
My Sort o' Man 140
My Sweet Brown Gal 176
Mystery, The 17
Mystic Sea, The 91
Murdered Lover, The 211
Musical, A 253

Nature and Art 52
Negro Love Song, A 49
News, The 136
Night 263
Night, Dim Night 227
Night of Love 46
Noddin' by de Fire 201
Noon 226
Nora: a Serenade 62
Not They Who Soar 18
Nutting Song 282

October 63
Ode for Memorial Day 22
Ode to Ethiopia 15
Old Apple-tree, The 10
Old Cabin, The 260
Old Front Gate, The 199
Old Homestead, The 283
Old Memory, An 284
Ol' Tunes, The 53
On a Clean Book 203
On the Death of W. C. 284
On the Dedication of Dorothy Hall 214
On the River 285
On the Road 142
On the Sea Wall 115
One Life 72
Opportunity 242
Over the Hills 90

Paradox, The 89
Parted 240
Parted 145
Party, The 83
Passion and Love 11
Path, The 21
Phantom Kiss, The 109
Philosophy 212
Photograph, The 144
Phyllis 74
Place Where the Rainbow Ends, The 246
Plantation Child's Lullaby, The 241
Plantation Portrait, A 173
Plantation Melody, A 193
Plea, A 167
Poet and His Song, The 4
Poet and the Baby, The 114
Poet, The 191
Pool, The 198
Poor Withered Rose 286
Possession 198
Possum 141
Possum Trot 147
Prayer, A 14
Precedent 106
Preference A 213
Premonition 23
Preparation 67
Prometheus 117
Promise 12
Protest 133
Puttin' the Baby Away 243

Quilting, The 240

Rain-Songs 270
Real Question, The 135
Religion 38
Reluctance 203
Remembered 121
Resignation 106
Response 175
Retort 5
Retrospection 24
Riding to Town 70
Right to Die, The 94
Right's Security 75
Rising of the Storm, The 8
Rivals, The 27
River of Ruin, The 265
Roadway, A 214
Robert Gould Shaw 221
Roses 221
Roses and Pearls 270

Sailor's Song, A 92
Sand-Man, The 235
Scamp 239
Secret, The 68
Seedling, The 12
She Gave Me a Rose 103
She Told Her Beads 106
Ships That Pass in the Night 64
Signs of the Times 77
Silence 186
Slow Through the Dark 211
Snowin' 168
Soliloquy of a Turkey 171
Song 13
Song 178
Song, A 248
Song, A 271
Song of Summer 26
Song, The 76
Sonnet 115
Sparrow, The 78
Speakin' at de' Cou'tHouse 205
Speakin' O' Christmas 78
Spellin'-Bee, The 42
Spiritual, A 194
Spring Fever 176
Spring Song 26
Spring Wooing, A 164
Starry Night, A 288
Summer Night, A 262
Stirrup Cup, The 125
Summer Pastoral, A 279
Summer's Night, A 64
Sum, The 114
Sunset 9
Suppose 258
Sympathy 102

Temptation 146
Thanksgiving Poem, A 281
Then and Now 129
Theology 106
Thou Art My Lute 109
Till the Wind Gets Right 262
Time to Tinker 'Roun'! 135
To a Captious Critic 189
To a Lady Playing the Harp 116
To a Dead Friend 216
To a Violet Found on All Saints' Day 179
To An Ingrate 223
To Dan 248
To E. H. K. 97
To Her 266
To J. Q. 238
To Louise 26
To Pfrimmer 277
To the Eastern Shore 202
To the Memory of Mary Young 81
To the Miami 277
To the Road 163
To the South 216
Trouble in de Kitchen 268
Tryst, The 166
Turning of the Babies in the Bed, The 170
'Twell de Night Is Pas' 253
Twilight 241
Two Little Boots 163
Two Songs 19

Unexpressed 25
Unlucky Apple, The 251
Unsung Heroes, The 196

Vagrants 119
Valse, The 175
Vengeance Is Sweet 98
Veteran, The 256
Voice of the Banjo, The 124
Visitor, The 177

Wading' in de Creek 239
Waiting 100
Warm Day in Winter, A 168
We Wear the Mask 71
Warrior's Prayer, The 123
Weltschmertz 220
W'en I Gits Home 195
What's the Use 249
When a Feller's Itchin' to Be Spanked 264
When all Is Done 113
When de Co'n Pone's Hot 57
When Dey 'Listed Colored Soldiers 182
When Malindy Sings 82
When Sam'l Sings 208
When the Old Man Smokes 95
When Winter Darkening all Around 275
Whip-Poor-Will and Katy-Did 186
Whistling Sam 156
Whittier 18
Why Fades a Dream? 77
Wind and the Sea, The 69
Winter-Song 236
Winter's Approach 256
Winter's Day, A 120
With the Lark 90
Wooing, The 55
Worn Out 286
Wraith, The 186

Yesterday and To-Morrow 257

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

A bee that was searching for sweets one day 19
A blue-bell springs upon the ledge 26
A cloud fell down from the heavens 288
A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in 8
A hush is over all the teeming lists 6
A knock is at her door, but she is weak 73
A life was mine full of the close concern 103
A lilt and a swing 226
A little bird with plumage brown 78
A little dreaming by the way 114
A lover whom duty called over the wave 29
A maiden wept and, as a comforter 11
A man of low degree was sore oppressed 111
A song for the unsung heroes who rose in the country's need 196
A song is but a little thing 4
A youth went farming up and down 55
Across the hills and down the narrow ways 120
Adown the west a golden glow 263
Ah, Douglass, we have fall'n on evil days 208
Ah, I have changed, I do not know 270
Ah, love, my love is like a cry in the night 222
Ah me, it is cold and chill 186
Ah, Nora, my Nora, the light fades away 62
Ah, yes, 't is sweet still to remember 31
Ah, yes, the chapter ends to-day 101
Ain't it nice to have a mammy 239
Ain't nobody tol' you not a wo'd a-tall 181
Air a-gittin' cool an' coolah 77
All de night long twell de moon goes down 253
All hot and grimy from the road 224
Along by the river of ruin 265
An angel robed in spotless white 65
An old man planted and dug and tended 60
An old, worn harp that had been played 17
As a quiet little seedling 12
As in some dim baronial hall restrained 94
As lone I sat one summer's day 122
As some rapt gazer on the lowly earth 106
Ashes to ashes, dust unto dust 103
At the golden gate of song 179
Aye, lay him in his grave, the old dead year! 105

Back to the breast of thy mother 113
Because I had loved so deeply 256
Because you love me I have much achieved 238
Bedtime's come fu' little boys 144
Belated wanderer of the ways of spring 179
Beyond the years the answer lies 41
Bird of my lady's bower 19
Bones a-gittin' achy 153
Break me my bounds, and let me fly 285
Breezes blowin' middlin' brisk 78
Bring me the livery of no other man 92
By Mystic's banks I held my dream 204
By rugged ways and thro' the night 215
By the pool that I see in my dreams, dear love 198
By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass 50

Caught Susanner whistlin'; well 149
Come away to dreamin' town 254
Come, drink a stirrup cup with me 125
Come, essay a sprightly measure 97
Come on walkin' wid me, Lucy; 't ain't no time to mope erroun' 164
Come to the pane, draw the curtain apart 120
Come when the nights are bright with stars 61
Cool is the wind, for the summer is waning 163
Cover him over with daisies white 258

Daih's a moughty soothin' feelin' 187
Darling, my darling, my heart is on the wing 202
Days git wa'm an' wa'mah 239
De axes has been ringin' in de woods de blessid day 143
De breeze is blowin' 'cross de bay 145
De 'cession's stahted on de gospel way 194
De da'kest hour, dey allus say 165
De dog go howlin' 'long de road 247
De night creep down erlong de lan' 166
De ol' time's gone, de new time's hyeah 192
De sun hit shine an' de win' hit blow 256
De times is mighty stirrin' 'mong de people up ouah way 158
De trees is bendin' in de sto'm 193
De way t'ings come, hit seems to me 225
De win' is blowin' wahmah 236
De win' is hollahin' "Daih you" to de shuttahs an' de fiah 174
Dear critic, who my lightness so deplores 189
Dear heart, good-night! 23
Dear Miss Lucy: I been t'inkin' dat I'd write you long fo' dis 151
Deep in my heart that aches with the repression 25
Dey been speakin' at de cou't-house 205
Dey had a gread big pahty down to Tom's de othah night 83
Dey is snow upon the meddahs 168
Dey is times in life when Nature 57
Dey was oncet a awful quoil 'twixt de skillet an' de pot 268
Dey was talkin' in de cabin, dey was talkin' in de hall 182
Dey's a so't o' threatenin' feelin' in de blowin' of de breeze 171
Dinah stan' befo' de glass 206
Dis is gospel weathah sho'— 26
Do' a-stan'in' on a jar, fiah a-shinin' thoo 196
Dolly sits a-quilting by her mother, stitch by stitch 240
Done are the toils and the wearisome marches 22
Dream days of fond delight and hours 287
Dream on, for dreams are sweet 100
Driftwood gathered here and there 277
Duck come switchin' 'cross de lot 275

Ef dey's anyt'ing dat riles me 141
Ef you's only got de powah fe' to blow a little whistle 250
Eight of 'em hyeah all tol' an' yet 243
Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire 115
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes 3

Folks ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits 5
Folks is talkin' 'bout de money, 'bout de silvah an' de gold 135
Four hundred years ago a tangled waste 47
Fu' de peace o' my eachin' heels, set down 222

God has his plans, and what if we 81
"Good-bye," I said to my conscience 31
Goo'-by, Jinks, I got to hump 64
Good hunting!—aye, good hunting 237
Good-night, my love, for I have dreamed of thee 93
Granny's gone a-visitin' 242
Grass commence a-comin' 176
Gray are the pages of record 205
Gray is the palace where she dwells 180
G'way an' quit dat noise, Miss Lucy 82

Hain't you see my Mandy Lou 173
He had his dream, and all through life 61
He loved her, and through many years 129
He sang of life serenely sweet 191
He scribbles some in prose and verse 49
Heart of my heart, the day is chill 207
Heart of the Southland, heed me pleading now 216
Heel and toe, heel and toe 170
Hello, ole man, you're a-gittin' gray 80
Hit's been drizzlin' an' been sprinklin' 180
Home agin, an' home to stay 259
How shall I woo thee to win thee, mine own? 289
How sweet the music sounded 284
How's a man to write a sonnet, can you tell 114
Hurt was the nation with a mighty wound 184
Hyeah come Cæsar Higgins 145
Hyeah dat singin' in de medders 208

"I am but clay," the sinner plead 114
I am no priest of crooks nor creeds 38
I am the mother of sorrows 89
I be'n down in ole Kentucky 42
I been t'inkin' 'bout de preachah; whut he said de othah night 212
I did not know that life could be so sweet 252
I done got 'uligion, honey, an' I's happy ez a king 146
I don't believe in 'ristercrats 140
I grew a rose once more to please mine eyes 13
I grew a rose within a garden fair 12
I had not known before 240
I has hyeahd o' people dancin' an' I's hyeahd o' people singin' 156
I have no fancy for that ancient cant 94
I have seen full many a sight 188
I held my heart so far from harm 255
I found you and I lost you 251
I know a man 235
I know my love is true 58
I know what the caged bird feels, alas! 102
I never shall furgit that night when father hitched up Dobbin 42
I sit upon the old sea wall 115
I stand above the city's rush and din 275
I stood by the shore at the death of day 69
I think that though the clouds be dark 53
I was not; now I am—a few days hence 17
If Death should claim me for her own to-day 210
If life were but a dream, my Love 75
If the muse were mine to tempt it 50
If thro' the sea of night which here surrounds me 256
If 'twere fair to suppose 258
If you could sit with me beside the sea to-day 21
In a small and lonely cabin out of noisy traffic's way 124
In de dead of night I sometimes 260
In Life's Red Sea with faith I plant my feet 110
In the east the morning comes 199
In the heavy earth the miner 107
In the forenoon's restful quiet 95
In the silence of my heart 110
In this sombre garden close 209
In the tents of Akbar 223
In this old garden, fair, I walk to-day 111
I's a-gittin' weary of de way dat people do 244
I's boun' to see my gal to-night 142
I's feelin' kin' o' lonesome in my little room to-night 202
It is as if a silver chord 216
It may be misery not to sing at all 225
It was Chrismus Eve, I mind hit fu' a mighty gloomy day 137
It's all a farce,—these tales they tell 56
It's hot to-day. The bees is buzzin' 279
It's moughty tiahsome layin' 'roun' 195
I've a humble little motto 46
I've always been a faithful man 267
I've been list'nin' to them lawyers 22
I've been watchin' of 'em, parson 39
I've journeyed 'roun' consid'able, a-seein' men an' things 147

Jes' lak toddy wahms you thoo' 148
Just whistle a bit, if the day be dark 98

Key and bar, key and bar 201
Kiss me, Miami, thou most constant one! 277
Know you, winds that blow your course 40

Lay me down beneaf de willers in de grass 142
Lead gently, Lord, and slow 98
Let me close the eyes of my soul 261
Let those who will stride on their barren roads 214
'Lias! 'Lias! Bless de Lawd! 190
Like sea-washed sand upon the shore 202
Like the blush upon the rose 282
Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes 134
Little brown face full of smiles 267
Little lady at de do' 177
Long had I grieved at what I deemed abuse 106
Long since, in sore distress, I heard one pray 123
Long time ago, we too set out 119
Long years ago, within a distant clime 104
Love hath the wings of the butterfly 117
Love is the light of the world, my dear 231
Love me. I care not what the circling years 89
Love used to carry a bow, you know 258
Lucy done gone back on me 136

Mammy's in de kitchen, an' de do' is shet 241
Mastah drink his ol' Made'a 213
Men may sing of their Havanas, elevating to the stars 129
Mother's gone a-visitin' to spend a month er two 79
My cot was down by a cypress grove 8
My heart to thy heart 13
My lady love lives far away 288
My muvver's ist the nicest one 247
My neighbor lives on the hill 192
My soul, lost in the music's mist 76

Night, dim night, and it rains, my love, it rains 227
Night is for sorrow and dawn is for joy 90
Not o'er thy dust let there be spent 18
No matter what you call it 287
Not they who soar, but they who plod 18
Not to the midnight of the gloomy past 214

O li'l' lamb out in de col' 133
O Lord, the hard-won miles 11
O Mother Race! to thee I bring 15
October is the treasurer of the year 63
Oh, de clouds is mighty heavy 169
Oh, de grubbin'-hoe's a-rustin' in de co'nah 67
Oh, de weathah it is balmy an' de breeze is sighin' low 207
Oh, dere's lots o' keer an' trouble 20
Oh for the breath of the briny deep 92
Oh, I am hurt to death, my Love 72
Oh, I des received a letter f'om de sweetest little gal 266
Oh, I haven't got long to live, for we all 48
Oh, summer has clothed the earth 91
Oh the breeze is blowin' balmy 262
Oh, the day has set me dreaming 107
Oh, the little bird is rocking in the cradle of the wind 245
Oh, the poets may sing of their Lady Irenes 26
Oh to have you in May 166
Oh, what shall I do? I am wholly upset 131
Oh, who is the Lord of the land of life 268
Oh, who would be sad tho' the sky be a-graying 236
Oh, wind of the spring-time, oh, free wind of May 221
On a summer's day as I sat by a stream 248
On the wide veranda white 59
Once Love grew bold and arrogant of air 102
One night in my room, still and beamless 109
Our good knight, Ted, girds his broadsword on 108
Out in de night a sad bird moans 194
Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing 64
Out of my heart, one day, I wrote a song 117
Out of my heart, one treach'rous winter's day 102
Out of the sunshine and out of the heat 167
Outside the rain upon the street 253
Over the hills and the valleys of dreaming 90

Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day 74
Place this bunch of mignonette 66
Poor withered rose, she gave it me 286
Pray, what can dreams avail 104
Pray why are you so bare, so bare 219
Prometheus stole from Heaven the sacred fire 117

Ring out, ye bells! 278
Round the wide earth, from the red field your valour has won 112

Say a mass for my soul's repose, my brother 211
Search thou my heart 116
See dis pictyah in my han' 144
Seems lak folks is mighty curus 139
Seen my lady home las' night 49
Seen you down at chu'ch las' night 60
Shadder in de valley 226
She gave a rose 103
She sang, and I listened the whole song thro' 121
She told the story, and the whole world wept 119
She told her beads with downcast eyes 106
She wrapped her soul in a lace of lies 240
Silence, and whirling worlds afar 263
Silently without my window 54
Since I left the city's heat 263
Slow de night's a-fallin' 186
Slow moves the pageant of a climbing race 211
So we, who 'we supped the selfsame cup 40
Some folks t'inks hit's right an' p'opah 201
Standin' at de winder 253
Step me now a bridal measure 248
Step wid de banjo an' glide wid de fiddle 269
Storm and strife and stress 227
Summah night an' sighin' breeze 132
Summah's nice, wif sun a-shinin' 132
Summer is de lovin' time 262
Sunshine on de medders 168
Sweetest of the flowers a-blooming 237
Swing yo' lady roun' an' roun' 200

Tek a cool night, good an' cleah 150
Tell your love where the roses blow 238
Temples he built, and palaces of air 100
The air is dark, the sky is gray 65
The change has come, and Helen sleeps 58
The cloud looked in at the window 72
The draft of love was cool and sweet 252
The gray dawn on the mountain top 248
The gray of the sea, and the gray of the sky 93
The lake's dark breast 8
The lark is silent in his nest 61
The little bird sits in the nest and sings 67
The Midnight wooed the Morning-Star 99
The mist has left the greening plain 252
The moon begins her stately ride 276
The moon has left the sky, love 46
The night is dewy as a maiden's mouth 64
The November sun invites me 282
The poor man went to the rich man's doors 106
The rain streams down like harpstrings from the sky 270
The river sleeps beneath the sky 9
The sand-man he's a jolly old fellow 235
The sky of brightest gray seems dark 59
The smell of the sea in my nostrils 91
The snow lies deep upon the ground 105
The sun has slipped his tether 100
The sun hath shed its kindly light 281
The sun is low 285
The trees bend down along the stream 249
The wind is out in its rage to-night 244
The wind told the little leaves to hurry 258
The word is writ that he who runs may read 209
The world is a snob, and the man who wins 118
The young queen Nature, ever sweet and fair 52
Ther' ain't no use in all this strife 49
There are no beaten paths to Glory's height 21
There is a heaven, for ever, day by day 106
There's a fabulous story 246
There's a memory keeps a-runnin' 10
These are the days of elfs and fays 251
They please me not—these solemn songs 125
This is the debt I pay 213
This is to-day, a golden summer's day 223
This poem must be done to-day 122
Thou arrant robber, Death! 284
"Thou art a fool," said my head to my heart 5
Thou art my lute, by thee I sing 109
Thou art the soul of a summer's day 271
Though the winds be dank 71
Thy tones are silver melted into sound 116
Tim Murphy's gon' walkin' wid Maggie O'Neill 261
'Tis an old deserted homestead 283
'Tis better to set here beside the sea 186
'Tis fine to play 235
To me, like hauntings of a vagrant breath 97
Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane 167
'Twas the apple that in Eden 251
'Twas three an' thirty year ago 27
'Twixt a smile and a tear 241
Two little boots all rough an' wo' 163

Uncle John, he makes me tired 73
Underneath the autumn sky 256

Villain shows his indiscretion 42

Want to trade me, do you, mistah? Oh, well, now, I reckon not 189
We is gathahed hyeah, my brothahs 13
We wear the mask that grins and lies 71
W'en daih's chillun in de house 199
W'en de clouds is hangin' heavy in de sky 176
W'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street 178
W'en de evenin' shadders 185
W'en de snow's a-fallin' 188
W'en I git up in de mo'nin' an' de clouds is big an' black 172
W'en us fellers stomp around, makin' lots o' noise 264
W'en you full o' worry 250
What are the things that make life bright? 238
What dreams we have and how they fly 166
What if the wind do howl without 75
What says the wind to the waving trees? 68
What's the use o' folks a-frownin' 249
When all is done, and my last word is said 113
When August days are hot an' dry 130
When de fiddle gits to singin' out a ol' Vahginny reel 138
When first of wise old Johnson taught 129
When I come in f'm de co'n-fiel' aftah wo'kin' ha'd all day 155
When I was young I longed for Love 98
When labor is light and the morning is fair 70
When Phyllis sighs and from her eyes 175
When storms arise 66
When summer time has come, and all 280
When the bees are humming in the honeysuckle vine 215
When the corn's all cut and the bright stalks shine 16
When to sweet music my lady is dancing 175
When winter covering all the ground 275
When you and I were young, the days 24
Who dat knockin' at de do'? 184
Who say my hea't ain't true to you? 133
Whose little lady is you, chile 198
Whut dat you whisperin' keepin' f'om me? 136
Whut time 'd dat clock strike? 254
Whut you say, dah? huh, uh! chile 153
Why fades a dream? 77
Why was it that the thunder voice of Fate 221
Will I have some mo' dat pie? 203
Win' a-blowin' gentle so de san' lay low 191
Wintah, summah, snow er shine 178
Wintah time hit comin' 241
With sombre mien, the evening gray 123
With what thou gavest me, O Master 276
Within a London garret high 96
Woman's sho' a cur'ous critter, an' dey ain't no doubtin' dat 170

Yes, my ha't 's ez ha'd ez stone 62
Yesterday I held your hand 257
You ask why I am sad to-day 220
You bid me hold my peace 286
You kin talk about yer anthems 53
You'll be wonderin' whut's de reason 131
Your presence like a benison to me 266
Your spoken words are roses fine and sweet 270

LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

ERE SLEEP COMES DOWN TO SOOTHE THE WEARY EYES

Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,

Which all the day with ceaseless care have sought

deine Stelle wird wiederhergestellt…

der Rest wird geladen…

The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar

kostenlos · 89.451 Wörter · ~6 Std. Lesezeit

Text von Project Gutenberg

scroll mal ↓weiter ↓

(von vorn beginnen)

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO
"LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"

BY

W. D. HOWELLS

NEW YORK

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY

1922

PRINTED IN U. S. A.

DEDICATIONS

LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

MY MOTHER

LYRICS OF THE HEARTHSIDE

ALICE

LYRICS OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER

MISS CATHERINE IMPEY

LYRICS OF SUNSHINE AND SHADOW

MRS. FRANK CONOVER WITH THANKS FOR HER LONG BELIEF

INTRODUCTION TO LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

W. D. HOWELLS.

INDEX OF TITLES

Absence 93
Accountability 5
Advice 250
After a Visit 42
After many Days 267
After the Quarrel 40
After While 53
Alexander Crummell—Dead 113
Alice 40
Anchored 256
Angelina 138
Ante-Bellum Sermon, An 13
Appreciation 247
At Candle-Lightin' Time 155
At Cheshire Cheese 129
At Loafing-Holt 263
At Night 254
At Sunset Time 263
At the Tavern 226
Awakening, The 252

Back-Log Song, A 143
Ballad 58
Ballade 204
Banjo Song, A 20
Barrier, The 99
Behind the Arras 94
Bein' Back Home 259
Beyond the Years 41
Black Samson of Brandywine 205
Blue 253
Bohemian, The 92
Boogah Man, The 185
Booker T. Washington 209
Border Ballad, A 48
Boys' Summer Song, A 235
Breaking the Charm 149
Bridal Measure, A 97
By Rugged Ways 215
By the Stream 50

Cabin Tale, A 153
Capture, The 275
Career, A 285
Change Has Come, The 58
Change, The 258
Changing Time 72
Chase, The 258
Choice, A 125
Christmus Is A-Comin' 153
Christmas on the Plantation 137
Christmas 269
Christmas Carol 278
Christmas Folksong, A 236
Christmas in the Heart 105
Circumstances Alter Cases 261
Colored Band, The 178
Colored Soldiers, The 50
Columbian Ode 47
Communion 110
Comparison 59
Compensation 256
Confessional 116
Confidence, A 73
Conquerors, The 112
Conscience and Remorse 31
Coquette Conquered, A 62
Corn-song, A 59
Corn-Stalk Fiddle, The 16
Crisis, The 111
Curiosity 241
Curtain 42

Dance, The 170
Dat Ol' Mare O' Mine 189
Dawn 65
Day 248
Deacon Jones' Grievance 39
Dead 73
Death 227
Death of the First Born, The 258
Death Song, A 142
Debt, The 213
De Critters' Dance 181
Delinquent, The 64
Dely 148
Deserted Plantation, The 67
Despair 261
De Way T'ings Come 225
Differences 192
Dilettante, The: A Modern Type 49
Dinah Kneading Dough 188
Diplomacy 238
Dirge 66
Dirge for a Soldier 199
Disappointed 60
Discovered 60
Discovery, The 251
Distinction 114
Disturber, The 131
Douglass 208
Dove, The 167
Dream Song I 104
Dream Song II 104
Dreamer, The 100
Dreamin' Town 254
Dreams 100
Dreams 166
Drizzle 180
Drowsy Day, A 65

Easy-Goin' Feller, An 49
Encouraged 238
Encouragement 184
End of the Chapter, The 101
Equipment 276
Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes 3
Evening 276
Expectation 131

Faith 244
Farewell to Arcady 123
Farm Child's Lullaby, The 245
Fisher Child's Lullaby, The 244
Fishing 172
Florida Night, A 191
Foolin' wid de Seasons 139
For the Man who Fails 118
Forest Greeting, The 237
Forever 240
Fount of Tears, The 224
Frederick Douglass 6
Frolic, A 200
From the Porch at Runnymede 275

Garret, The 96
Golden Day, A 251
Good-Night 61
Gourd, The 107
Grievance, A 188
Growin' Gray 80

Harriet Beecher Stowe 119
Haunted Oak, The 219
He Had His Dream 61
Her Thought and His 93
Hope 247
How Lucy Backslid 158
How Shall I Woo Thee 289
"Howdy, Honey, Howdy!" 196
Hunting Song 150
Hymn 66
Hymn 133
Hymn, A 98

If 75
Ione 31
In An English Garden 111
In August 130
In May 166
In Summer 91
In Summer Time 280
In the Morning 190
In the Tends of Akbar 223
Inspiration 179
Invitation to Love 61
Itching Heels 222

James Whitcomb Riley 287
Jealous 145
Jilted 136
Joggin' Erlong 165
Johnny Speaks 235
Just Whistle a Bit 98

Keep a-pluggin' Away 46
Keep a Song up on de Way 169
Kidnaped 255
King Is Dead, The 105
Knight, The 108

Lapse, The 122
Lawyers' Ways, The 22
Lazy Day, The 249
Lesson, The 8
Letter, A 151
Life 8
Life's Tragedy 225
Li'l' Gal 207
Lily of the Valley, The 237
Limitations 250
Lincoln 184
Little Brown Baby 134
Little Christmas Basket, A 174
Little Lucy Landman 107
Liza May 267
Lonesome 79
Long Ago 192
'Long to'ds Night 187
Longing 21
Looking-Glass, The 206
Lost Dream, A 270
Love 103
Love and Grief 102
Love Despoiled 122
Love Letter, A 266
Love-Song 210
Love Song, A 222
Lover and the Moon, The 29
Lover's Lane 132
Love's Apotheosis 89
Love's Castle 201
Love's Draft 252
Love's Humility 106
Love's Phases 117
Love's Pictures 282
Love's Seasons 215
Lullaby 144
Lyric, A 288

Madrigal, A 287
Mare Rubrum 110
Master-Player The 17
Masters, The 258
Meadow Lark, The 71
Melancholia 54
Memory of Martha, The 194
Merry Autumn 56
Misty Day, A 207
Misapprehension 117
Monk's Walk, The 209
Morning 252
Morning Song of Love 202
Mortality 103
My Corn-Cob Pipe 129
My Lady of Castle Grand 180
My Little March Girl 120
My Sort o' Man 140
My Sweet Brown Gal 176
Mystery, The 17
Mystic Sea, The 91
Murdered Lover, The 211
Musical, A 253

Nature and Art 52
Negro Love Song, A 49
News, The 136
Night 263
Night, Dim Night 227
Night of Love 46
Noddin' by de Fire 201
Noon 226
Nora: a Serenade 62
Not They Who Soar 18
Nutting Song 282

October 63
Ode for Memorial Day 22
Ode to Ethiopia 15
Old Apple-tree, The 10
Old Cabin, The 260
Old Front Gate, The 199
Old Homestead, The 283
Old Memory, An 284
Ol' Tunes, The 53
On a Clean Book 203
On the Death of W. C. 284
On the Dedication of Dorothy Hall 214
On the River 285
On the Road 142
On the Sea Wall 115
One Life 72
Opportunity 242
Over the Hills 90

Paradox, The 89
Parted 240
Parted 145
Party, The 83
Passion and Love 11
Path, The 21
Phantom Kiss, The 109
Philosophy 212
Photograph, The 144
Phyllis 74
Place Where the Rainbow Ends, The 246
Plantation Child's Lullaby, The 241
Plantation Portrait, A 173
Plantation Melody, A 193
Plea, A 167
Poet and His Song, The 4
Poet and the Baby, The 114
Poet, The 191
Pool, The 198
Poor Withered Rose 286
Possession 198
Possum 141
Possum Trot 147
Prayer, A 14
Precedent 106
Preference A 213
Premonition 23
Preparation 67
Prometheus 117
Promise 12
Protest 133
Puttin' the Baby Away 243

Quilting, The 240

Rain-Songs 270
Real Question, The 135
Religion 38
Reluctance 203
Remembered 121
Resignation 106
Response 175
Retort 5
Retrospection 24
Riding to Town 70
Right to Die, The 94
Right's Security 75
Rising of the Storm, The 8
Rivals, The 27
River of Ruin, The 265
Roadway, A 214
Robert Gould Shaw 221
Roses 221
Roses and Pearls 270

Sailor's Song, A 92
Sand-Man, The 235
Scamp 239
Secret, The 68
Seedling, The 12
She Gave Me a Rose 103
She Told Her Beads 106
Ships That Pass in the Night 64
Signs of the Times 77
Silence 186
Slow Through the Dark 211
Snowin' 168
Soliloquy of a Turkey 171
Song 13
Song 178
Song, A 248
Song, A 271
Song of Summer 26
Song, The 76
Sonnet 115
Sparrow, The 78
Speakin' at de' Cou'tHouse 205
Speakin' O' Christmas 78
Spellin'-Bee, The 42
Spiritual, A 194
Spring Fever 176
Spring Song 26
Spring Wooing, A 164
Starry Night, A 288
Summer Night, A 262
Stirrup Cup, The 125
Summer Pastoral, A 279
Summer's Night, A 64
Sum, The 114
Sunset 9
Suppose 258
Sympathy 102

Temptation 146
Thanksgiving Poem, A 281
Then and Now 129
Theology 106
Thou Art My Lute 109
Till the Wind Gets Right 262
Time to Tinker 'Roun'! 135
To a Captious Critic 189
To a Lady Playing the Harp 116
To a Dead Friend 216
To a Violet Found on All Saints' Day 179
To An Ingrate 223
To Dan 248
To E. H. K. 97
To Her 266
To J. Q. 238
To Louise 26
To Pfrimmer 277
To the Eastern Shore 202
To the Memory of Mary Young 81
To the Miami 277
To the Road 163
To the South 216
Trouble in de Kitchen 268
Tryst, The 166
Turning of the Babies in the Bed, The 170
'Twell de Night Is Pas' 253
Twilight 241
Two Little Boots 163
Two Songs 19

Unexpressed 25
Unlucky Apple, The 251
Unsung Heroes, The 196

Vagrants 119
Valse, The 175
Vengeance Is Sweet 98
Veteran, The 256
Voice of the Banjo, The 124
Visitor, The 177

Wading' in de Creek 239
Waiting 100
Warm Day in Winter, A 168
We Wear the Mask 71
Warrior's Prayer, The 123
Weltschmertz 220
W'en I Gits Home 195
What's the Use 249
When a Feller's Itchin' to Be Spanked 264
When all Is Done 113
When de Co'n Pone's Hot 57
When Dey 'Listed Colored Soldiers 182
When Malindy Sings 82
When Sam'l Sings 208
When the Old Man Smokes 95
When Winter Darkening all Around 275
Whip-Poor-Will and Katy-Did 186
Whistling Sam 156
Whittier 18
Why Fades a Dream? 77
Wind and the Sea, The 69
Winter-Song 236
Winter's Approach 256
Winter's Day, A 120
With the Lark 90
Wooing, The 55
Worn Out 286
Wraith, The 186

Yesterday and To-Morrow 257

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

A bee that was searching for sweets one day 19
A blue-bell springs upon the ledge 26
A cloud fell down from the heavens 288
A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in 8
A hush is over all the teeming lists 6
A knock is at her door, but she is weak 73
A life was mine full of the close concern 103
A lilt and a swing 226
A little bird with plumage brown 78
A little dreaming by the way 114
A lover whom duty called over the wave 29
A maiden wept and, as a comforter 11
A man of low degree was sore oppressed 111
A song for the unsung heroes who rose in the country's need 196
A song is but a little thing 4
A youth went farming up and down 55
Across the hills and down the narrow ways 120
Adown the west a golden glow 263
Ah, Douglass, we have fall'n on evil days 208
Ah, I have changed, I do not know 270
Ah, love, my love is like a cry in the night 222
Ah me, it is cold and chill 186
Ah, Nora, my Nora, the light fades away 62
Ah, yes, 't is sweet still to remember 31
Ah, yes, the chapter ends to-day 101
Ain't it nice to have a mammy 239
Ain't nobody tol' you not a wo'd a-tall 181
Air a-gittin' cool an' coolah 77
All de night long twell de moon goes down 253
All hot and grimy from the road 224
Along by the river of ruin 265
An angel robed in spotless white 65
An old man planted and dug and tended 60
An old, worn harp that had been played 17
As a quiet little seedling 12
As in some dim baronial hall restrained 94
As lone I sat one summer's day 122
As some rapt gazer on the lowly earth 106
Ashes to ashes, dust unto dust 103
At the golden gate of song 179
Aye, lay him in his grave, the old dead year! 105

Back to the breast of thy mother 113
Because I had loved so deeply 256
Because you love me I have much achieved 238
Bedtime's come fu' little boys 144
Belated wanderer of the ways of spring 179
Beyond the years the answer lies 41
Bird of my lady's bower 19
Bones a-gittin' achy 153
Break me my bounds, and let me fly 285
Breezes blowin' middlin' brisk 78
Bring me the livery of no other man 92
By Mystic's banks I held my dream 204
By rugged ways and thro' the night 215
By the pool that I see in my dreams, dear love 198
By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass 50

Caught Susanner whistlin'; well 149
Come away to dreamin' town 254
Come, drink a stirrup cup with me 125
Come, essay a sprightly measure 97
Come on walkin' wid me, Lucy; 't ain't no time to mope erroun' 164
Come to the pane, draw the curtain apart 120
Come when the nights are bright with stars 61
Cool is the wind, for the summer is waning 163
Cover him over with daisies white 258

Daih's a moughty soothin' feelin' 187
Darling, my darling, my heart is on the wing 202
Days git wa'm an' wa'mah 239
De axes has been ringin' in de woods de blessid day 143
De breeze is blowin' 'cross de bay 145
De 'cession's stahted on de gospel way 194
De da'kest hour, dey allus say 165
De dog go howlin' 'long de road 247
De night creep down erlong de lan' 166
De ol' time's gone, de new time's hyeah 192
De sun hit shine an' de win' hit blow 256
De times is mighty stirrin' 'mong de people up ouah way 158
De trees is bendin' in de sto'm 193
De way t'ings come, hit seems to me 225
De win' is blowin' wahmah 236
De win' is hollahin' "Daih you" to de shuttahs an' de fiah 174
Dear critic, who my lightness so deplores 189
Dear heart, good-night! 23
Dear Miss Lucy: I been t'inkin' dat I'd write you long fo' dis 151
Deep in my heart that aches with the repression 25
Dey been speakin' at de cou't-house 205
Dey had a gread big pahty down to Tom's de othah night 83
Dey is snow upon the meddahs 168
Dey is times in life when Nature 57
Dey was oncet a awful quoil 'twixt de skillet an' de pot 268
Dey was talkin' in de cabin, dey was talkin' in de hall 182
Dey's a so't o' threatenin' feelin' in de blowin' of de breeze 171
Dinah stan' befo' de glass 206
Dis is gospel weathah sho'— 26
Do' a-stan'in' on a jar, fiah a-shinin' thoo 196
Dolly sits a-quilting by her mother, stitch by stitch 240
Done are the toils and the wearisome marches 22
Dream days of fond delight and hours 287
Dream on, for dreams are sweet 100
Driftwood gathered here and there 277
Duck come switchin' 'cross de lot 275

Ef dey's anyt'ing dat riles me 141
Ef you's only got de powah fe' to blow a little whistle 250
Eight of 'em hyeah all tol' an' yet 243
Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire 115
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes 3

Folks ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits 5
Folks is talkin' 'bout de money, 'bout de silvah an' de gold 135
Four hundred years ago a tangled waste 47
Fu' de peace o' my eachin' heels, set down 222

God has his plans, and what if we 81
"Good-bye," I said to my conscience 31
Goo'-by, Jinks, I got to hump 64
Good hunting!—aye, good hunting 237
Good-night, my love, for I have dreamed of thee 93
Granny's gone a-visitin' 242
Grass commence a-comin' 176
Gray are the pages of record 205
Gray is the palace where she dwells 180
G'way an' quit dat noise, Miss Lucy 82

Hain't you see my Mandy Lou 173
He had his dream, and all through life 61
He loved her, and through many years 129
He sang of life serenely sweet 191
He scribbles some in prose and verse 49
Heart of my heart, the day is chill 207
Heart of the Southland, heed me pleading now 216
Heel and toe, heel and toe 170
Hello, ole man, you're a-gittin' gray 80
Hit's been drizzlin' an' been sprinklin' 180
Home agin, an' home to stay 259
How shall I woo thee to win thee, mine own? 289
How sweet the music sounded 284
How's a man to write a sonnet, can you tell 114
Hurt was the nation with a mighty wound 184
Hyeah come Cæsar Higgins 145
Hyeah dat singin' in de medders 208

"I am but clay," the sinner plead 114
I am no priest of crooks nor creeds 38
I am the mother of sorrows 89
I be'n down in ole Kentucky 42
I been t'inkin' 'bout de preachah; whut he said de othah night 212
I did not know that life could be so sweet 252
I done got 'uligion, honey, an' I's happy ez a king 146
I don't believe in 'ristercrats 140
I grew a rose once more to please mine eyes 13
I grew a rose within a garden fair 12
I had not known before 240
I has hyeahd o' people dancin' an' I's hyeahd o' people singin' 156
I have no fancy for that ancient cant 94
I have seen full many a sight 188
I held my heart so far from harm 255
I found you and I lost you 251
I know a man 235
I know my love is true 58
I know what the caged bird feels, alas! 102
I never shall furgit that night when father hitched up Dobbin 42
I sit upon the old sea wall 115
I stand above the city's rush and din 275
I stood by the shore at the death of day 69
I think that though the clouds be dark 53
I was not; now I am—a few days hence 17
If Death should claim me for her own to-day 210
If life were but a dream, my Love 75
If the muse were mine to tempt it 50
If thro' the sea of night which here surrounds me 256
If 'twere fair to suppose 258
If you could sit with me beside the sea to-day 21
In a small and lonely cabin out of noisy traffic's way 124
In de dead of night I sometimes 260
In Life's Red Sea with faith I plant my feet 110
In the east the morning comes 199
In the heavy earth the miner 107
In the forenoon's restful quiet 95
In the silence of my heart 110
In this sombre garden close 209
In the tents of Akbar 223
In this old garden, fair, I walk to-day 111
I's a-gittin' weary of de way dat people do 244
I's boun' to see my gal to-night 142
I's feelin' kin' o' lonesome in my little room to-night 202
It is as if a silver chord 216
It may be misery not to sing at all 225
It was Chrismus Eve, I mind hit fu' a mighty gloomy day 137
It's all a farce,—these tales they tell 56
It's hot to-day. The bees is buzzin' 279
It's moughty tiahsome layin' 'roun' 195
I've a humble little motto 46
I've always been a faithful man 267
I've been list'nin' to them lawyers 22
I've been watchin' of 'em, parson 39
I've journeyed 'roun' consid'able, a-seein' men an' things 147

Jes' lak toddy wahms you thoo' 148
Just whistle a bit, if the day be dark 98

Key and bar, key and bar 201
Kiss me, Miami, thou most constant one! 277
Know you, winds that blow your course 40

Lay me down beneaf de willers in de grass 142
Lead gently, Lord, and slow 98
Let me close the eyes of my soul 261
Let those who will stride on their barren roads 214
'Lias! 'Lias! Bless de Lawd! 190
Like sea-washed sand upon the shore 202
Like the blush upon the rose 282
Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes 134
Little brown face full of smiles 267
Little lady at de do' 177
Long had I grieved at what I deemed abuse 106
Long since, in sore distress, I heard one pray 123
Long time ago, we too set out 119
Long years ago, within a distant clime 104
Love hath the wings of the butterfly 117
Love is the light of the world, my dear 231
Love me. I care not what the circling years 89
Love used to carry a bow, you know 258
Lucy done gone back on me 136

Mammy's in de kitchen, an' de do' is shet 241
Mastah drink his ol' Made'a 213
Men may sing of their Havanas, elevating to the stars 129
Mother's gone a-visitin' to spend a month er two 79
My cot was down by a cypress grove 8
My heart to thy heart 13
My lady love lives far away 288
My muvver's ist the nicest one 247
My neighbor lives on the hill 192
My soul, lost in the music's mist 76

Night, dim night, and it rains, my love, it rains 227
Night is for sorrow and dawn is for joy 90
Not o'er thy dust let there be spent 18
No matter what you call it 287
Not they who soar, but they who plod 18
Not to the midnight of the gloomy past 214

O li'l' lamb out in de col' 133
O Lord, the hard-won miles 11
O Mother Race! to thee I bring 15
October is the treasurer of the year 63
Oh, de clouds is mighty heavy 169
Oh, de grubbin'-hoe's a-rustin' in de co'nah 67
Oh, de weathah it is balmy an' de breeze is sighin' low 207
Oh, dere's lots o' keer an' trouble 20
Oh for the breath of the briny deep 92
Oh, I am hurt to death, my Love 72
Oh, I des received a letter f'om de sweetest little gal 266
Oh, I haven't got long to live, for we all 48
Oh, summer has clothed the earth 91
Oh the breeze is blowin' balmy 262
Oh, the day has set me dreaming 107
Oh, the little bird is rocking in the cradle of the wind 245
Oh, the poets may sing of their Lady Irenes 26
Oh to have you in May 166
Oh, what shall I do? I am wholly upset 131
Oh, who is the Lord of the land of life 268
Oh, who would be sad tho' the sky be a-graying 236
Oh, wind of the spring-time, oh, free wind of May 221
On a summer's day as I sat by a stream 248
On the wide veranda white 59
Once Love grew bold and arrogant of air 102
One night in my room, still and beamless 109
Our good knight, Ted, girds his broadsword on 108
Out in de night a sad bird moans 194
Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing 64
Out of my heart, one day, I wrote a song 117
Out of my heart, one treach'rous winter's day 102
Out of the sunshine and out of the heat 167
Outside the rain upon the street 253
Over the hills and the valleys of dreaming 90

Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day 74
Place this bunch of mignonette 66
Poor withered rose, she gave it me 286
Pray, what can dreams avail 104
Pray why are you so bare, so bare 219
Prometheus stole from Heaven the sacred fire 117

Ring out, ye bells! 278
Round the wide earth, from the red field your valour has won 112

Say a mass for my soul's repose, my brother 211
Search thou my heart 116
See dis pictyah in my han' 144
Seems lak folks is mighty curus 139
Seen my lady home las' night 49
Seen you down at chu'ch las' night 60
Shadder in de valley 226
She gave a rose 103
She sang, and I listened the whole song thro' 121
She told the story, and the whole world wept 119
She told her beads with downcast eyes 106
She wrapped her soul in a lace of lies 240
Silence, and whirling worlds afar 263
Silently without my window 54
Since I left the city's heat 263
Slow de night's a-fallin' 186
Slow moves the pageant of a climbing race 211
So we, who 'we supped the selfsame cup 40
Some folks t'inks hit's right an' p'opah 201
Standin' at de winder 253
Step me now a bridal measure 248
Step wid de banjo an' glide wid de fiddle 269
Storm and strife and stress 227
Summah night an' sighin' breeze 132
Summah's nice, wif sun a-shinin' 132
Summer is de lovin' time 262
Sunshine on de medders 168
Sweetest of the flowers a-blooming 237
Swing yo' lady roun' an' roun' 200

Tek a cool night, good an' cleah 150
Tell your love where the roses blow 238
Temples he built, and palaces of air 100
The air is dark, the sky is gray 65
The change has come, and Helen sleeps 58
The cloud looked in at the window 72
The draft of love was cool and sweet 252
The gray dawn on the mountain top 248
The gray of the sea, and the gray of the sky 93
The lake's dark breast 8
The lark is silent in his nest 61
The little bird sits in the nest and sings 67
The Midnight wooed the Morning-Star 99
The mist has left the greening plain 252
The moon begins her stately ride 276
The moon has left the sky, love 46
The night is dewy as a maiden's mouth 64
The November sun invites me 282
The poor man went to the rich man's doors 106
The rain streams down like harpstrings from the sky 270
The river sleeps beneath the sky 9
The sand-man he's a jolly old fellow 235
The sky of brightest gray seems dark 59
The smell of the sea in my nostrils 91
The snow lies deep upon the ground 105
The sun has slipped his tether 100
The sun hath shed its kindly light 281
The sun is low 285
The trees bend down along the stream 249
The wind is out in its rage to-night 244
The wind told the little leaves to hurry 258
The word is writ that he who runs may read 209
The world is a snob, and the man who wins 118
The young queen Nature, ever sweet and fair 52
Ther' ain't no use in all this strife 49
There are no beaten paths to Glory's height 21
There is a heaven, for ever, day by day 106
There's a fabulous story 246
There's a memory keeps a-runnin' 10
These are the days of elfs and fays 251
They please me not—these solemn songs 125
This is the debt I pay 213
This is to-day, a golden summer's day 223
This poem must be done to-day 122
Thou arrant robber, Death! 284
"Thou art a fool," said my head to my heart 5
Thou art my lute, by thee I sing 109
Thou art the soul of a summer's day 271
Though the winds be dank 71
Thy tones are silver melted into sound 116
Tim Murphy's gon' walkin' wid Maggie O'Neill 261
'Tis an old deserted homestead 283
'Tis better to set here beside the sea 186
'Tis fine to play 235
To me, like hauntings of a vagrant breath 97
Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane 167
'Twas the apple that in Eden 251
'Twas three an' thirty year ago 27
'Twixt a smile and a tear 241
Two little boots all rough an' wo' 163

Uncle John, he makes me tired 73
Underneath the autumn sky 256

Villain shows his indiscretion 42

Want to trade me, do you, mistah? Oh, well, now, I reckon not 189
We is gathahed hyeah, my brothahs 13
We wear the mask that grins and lies 71
W'en daih's chillun in de house 199
W'en de clouds is hangin' heavy in de sky 176
W'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street 178
W'en de evenin' shadders 185
W'en de snow's a-fallin' 188
W'en I git up in de mo'nin' an' de clouds is big an' black 172
W'en us fellers stomp around, makin' lots o' noise 264
W'en you full o' worry 250
What are the things that make life bright? 238
What dreams we have and how they fly 166
What if the wind do howl without 75
What says the wind to the waving trees? 68
What's the use o' folks a-frownin' 249
When all is done, and my last word is said 113
When August days are hot an' dry 130
When de fiddle gits to singin' out a ol' Vahginny reel 138
When first of wise old Johnson taught 129
When I come in f'm de co'n-fiel' aftah wo'kin' ha'd all day 155
When I was young I longed for Love 98
When labor is light and the morning is fair 70
When Phyllis sighs and from her eyes 175
When storms arise 66
When summer time has come, and all 280
When the bees are humming in the honeysuckle vine 215
When the corn's all cut and the bright stalks shine 16
When to sweet music my lady is dancing 175
When winter covering all the ground 275
When you and I were young, the days 24
Who dat knockin' at de do'? 184
Who say my hea't ain't true to you? 133
Whose little lady is you, chile 198
Whut dat you whisperin' keepin' f'om me? 136
Whut time 'd dat clock strike? 254
Whut you say, dah? huh, uh! chile 153
Why fades a dream? 77
Why was it that the thunder voice of Fate 221
Will I have some mo' dat pie? 203
Win' a-blowin' gentle so de san' lay low 191
Wintah, summah, snow er shine 178
Wintah time hit comin' 241
With sombre mien, the evening gray 123
With what thou gavest me, O Master 276
Within a London garret high 96
Woman's sho' a cur'ous critter, an' dey ain't no doubtin' dat 170

Yes, my ha't 's ez ha'd ez stone 62
Yesterday I held your hand 257
You ask why I am sad to-day 220
You bid me hold my peace 286
You kin talk about yer anthems 53
You'll be wonderin' whut's de reason 131
Your presence like a benison to me 266
Your spoken words are roses fine and sweet 270

LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

ERE SLEEP COMES DOWN TO SOOTHE THE WEARY EYES

Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,

Which all the day with ceaseless care have sought

deine Stelle wird wiederhergestellt…

der Rest wird geladen…

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO "LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"

BY

W. D. HOWELLS

DEDICATIONS

INTRODUCTION TO LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

INDEX OF TITLES

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

ERE SLEEP COMES DOWN TO SOOTHE THE WEARY EYES

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO "LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"

BY

W. D. HOWELLS

DEDICATIONS

INTRODUCTION TO LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

INDEX OF TITLES

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

ERE SLEEP COMES DOWN TO SOOTHE THE WEARY EYES

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO
"LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO
"LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"