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The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar

Chapter 6: INDEX OF FIRST LINES
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About This Book

This collection assembles lyrics and narrative poems that range from intimate, music‑inflected lyrics and ballads to idiomatic dialect pieces, presenting scenes of domestic life, work, love, and loss alongside reflections on race, social struggle, and public events. Formal variety—songs, sonnets, ballads, and occasional verse—supports a voice that mixes humor, tenderness, irony, and musical rhythm. Many pieces aim to reproduce speech and song patterns while moving between private feeling and broader communal concerns.

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