Page:Lyrics of Lowly Life Dunbar (1896).djvu/219



Hello, ole man, you're a-gittin' gray—

Who cares what the carpin' youngsters say?

For, after all, when the tale is told,

Love proves if a man is young or old!

Old age can't make the heart grow cold

When it does the will of an honest mind;

When it beats with love fur all mankind;

Then the night but leads to a fairer day—

Hello, ole man, you're a-gittin' gray!

OD has his plans, and what if we

With our sight be too blind to see

Their full fruition; cannot he,

Who made it, solve the mystery?

One whom we loved has fall'n asleep,

Not died; although her calm be deep,

Some new, unknown, and strange surprise

In Heaven holds enrapt her eyes.