Page:The complete poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar.pdf/46

 

of bread and a corner to sleep in, A minute to smile and an hour to weep in, A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, And never a laugh but the moans come double;
 * And that is life!

A crust and a corner that love makes precious, With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us; And joy seems sweeter when cares come after, And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter;
 * And that is life!

 

cot was down by a cypress grove,
 * And I sat by my window the whole night long,

And heard well up from the deep dark wood
 * A mocking-bird's passionate song.

And I thought of myself so sad and lone,
 * And my life's cold winter that knew no spring;

Of my mind so weary and sick and wild,
 * Of my heart too sad to sing.

But e'en as I listened the mock-bird's song,
 * A thought stole into my saddened heart,

And I said, "I can cheer some other soul
 * By a carol's simple art."

For oft from the darkness of hearts and lives
 * Come songs that brim with joy and light,

As out of the gloom of the cypress grove
 * The mocking-bird sings at night.

So I sang a lay for a brother's ear
 * In a strain to soothe his bleeding heart,

And he smiled at the sound of my voice and lyre,
 * Though mine was a feeble art.

But at his smile I smiled in turn,
 * And into my soul there came a ray:

In trying to soothe another's woes
 * Mine own had passed away.

 


 * lake's dark breast
 * Is all unrest,

It heaves with a sob and a sigh.
 * Like a tremulous bird,
 * From its slumber stirred,

The moon is a-tilt in the sky. 