I dreamed that I was a rose That grew beside a lonely way, Close by a path none ever chose, And there I lingered day by day. Beneath the sunshine and the show’…

(A Warning) ‘Simmons ripenin’ in de fall, You better run, Brudder 'Possum, run! Mockin’ bird commence to call,

O black and unknown bards of long… How came your lips to touch the sa… How, in your darkness, did you com… The power and beauty of the minstr… Who first from midst his bonds lif…

How would you have us, as we are? Or sinking 'neath the load we bear… Our eyes fixed forward on a star? Or gazing empty at despair? Rising or falling? Men or things?

For fifty years, Cruel, insatiable Old World. You have punched me over the heart Till you made me cough blood. The few paltry things I gathered

Lift ev’ry voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Libert… Let our rejoicing rise High as the list’ning skies,

Old Devil, when you come with hor… With diabolic grin and crafty leer… I say, such bogey-man devices whol… To waken in my heart a single fear… But when you wear a form I know s…

O, brothers mine, take care! Take… The great white witch rides out to… Trust not your prowess nor your st… Your only safety lies in flight; For in her glance there is a snare…

Out of the infinite sea of eternit… To climb, and for an instant stand Upon an island speck of time. From the impassible peace of the d… To wake, and blink at the garish l…

Look heah! 'Splain to me de reaso… Why you said to Squire Lee, Der wuz twelve ole chicken thieves In dis heah town, includin’ me. Ef he tole you dat, my brudder,

I’m back down in ole Georgy w’ere… W’ere de cawn it is a-tasslin’, gi… W’ere de cott’n is a-openin’ an’ a… An’ de ripenin’ o’ de sugah-cane i… An’ de locus’ is a-singin’ f’om ev…

(A Negro Serenade) De river is a-glistenin’ in de moo… De owl is set’n high up in de tree… De little stars am twinklin’ wid a… De night seems only jes fu’ you an…

Girl of fifteen, I see you each morning from my win… As you pass on your way to school. I do more than see, I watch you. I furtively draw the curtain aside…

When buffeted and beaten by life’s… When by the bitter cares of life o… I want no surer haven than your ar… I want no sweeter heaven than your… When over my life’s way there fall…

Eternities before the first-born d… Or ere the first sun fledged his w… Calm Night, the everlasting and t… A brooding mother over chaos lay. And whirling suns shall blaze and…