#AmericanWriters
Dear critic, who my lightness so d… Would I might study to be prince… Right wisely would I rule that du… But, sir, I may not, till you abd…
Wen I git up in de mo’nin’ an’ de… Dey’s a kin’ o’ wa’nin’ shivah goe… Den I says to my ol’ ooman ez I w… 'Don’t you so’t o’ reckon, Lizy,… ‘Go on, man,’ my Lizy answah, 'yo…
Lucy done gone back on me, Dat’s de way wif life. Evaht’ing was movin’ free, T’ought I had my wife. Den some dahky comes along,
WHAT are the things that make li… A star gleam in the night. What hearts us for the coming fray… The dawn tints of the day. What helps to speed the weary mile…
THE lake’s dark breast Is all unrest, It heaves with a sob and a sigh. Like a tremulous bird, From its slumber stirred,
A cloud fell down from the heavens… And broke on the mountain’s brow; It scattered the dusky fragments All over the vale below. The moon and the stars were anxiou…
Oh, the day has set me dreaming In a strange, half solemn way Of the feelings I experienced On another long past day,— Of the way my heart made music
As lone I sat one summer’s day, With mien dejected, Love came by; His face distraught, his locks ast… So slow his gait, so sad his eye, I hailed him with a pitying cry:
Pray, what can dreams avail To make love or to mar? The child within the cradle rail Lies dreaming of the star. But is the star by this beguiled
I’VE a humble little motto That is homely, though it’s true,… Keep a—pluggin’ away. It’s a thing when I’ve an object That I always try to do, —
I have no fancy for that ancient c… That makes us masters of our desti… And not our lives, to hold or give… As will directs; I cannot, will n… That men, the subtle worms, who pl…
IN de dead of night I sometimes, Git to t’inkin’ of de pas’ An’ de days w’en slavery helt me In my mis’ry —ha’d an’ fas’. Dough de time was mighty tryin’,
This is the debt I pay Just for one riotous day, Years of regret and grief, Sorrow without relief. Pay it I will to the end —
(Lines on reading ‘Driftwood.’) Driftwood gathered here and there Along the beach of time; Now and then a chip of truth ‘Mid boards and boughs of rhyme;
Anchored IF thro’ the sea of night which h… I could swim out beyond the farthe… Break every barrier of circumstanc… And greet the Sun of sweeter life…
