There’s a memory keeps a-runnin’Through my weary head to-night,An’ I see a picture dancin’In the fire-flames’ ruddy light;‘Tis the picture of an orchardWrapped in autumn’s purple haze,With the tender light about itThat I loved in other days.An’ a-standin’ in a cornerOnce again I seem to seeThe verdant leaves an’ branchesOf an old apple-tree. You perhaps […]

The lake’s dark breastIs 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. From the silent deepThe waters sweep,But faint on the cold white stones,And the wavelets flyWith a plaintive cryO’er the old earth’s bare, bleak bones. And the spray upspringsOn its ghost-white […]

My 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 woodA 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 […]

A crust 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 […]

A hush is over all the teeming lists,And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;A spirit brave has passed beyond the mistsAnd vapors that obscure the sun of life.And Ethiopia, with bosom torn,Laments the passing of her noblest born. She weeps for him a mother’s burning tears–She loved him with a mother’s deepest love.He […]

Folks ain’t got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits;Him dat giv’ de squir’ls de bushtails made de bobtails fu’ de rabbits.Him dat built de gread big mountains hollered out de little valleys,Him dat made de streets an’ driveways wasn’t shamed to make de alleys. We is all constructed diff’ent, d’ain’t no two […]

“Thou art a fool,” said my head to my heart,“Indeed, the greatest of fools thou art,To be led astray by the trick of a tress,By a smiling face or a ribbon smart;”And my heart was in sore distress. Then Phyllis came by, and her face was fair,The light gleamed soft on her raven hair;And her […]

When the corn ‘s all cut and the bright stalks shineLike the burnished spears of a field of gold;When the field-mice rich on the nubbins dine,And the frost comes white and the wind blows cold;Then it’s heigho! fellows and hi-diddle-diddle,For the time is ripe for the corn-stalk fiddle. And you take a stalk that is […]

O Mother Race! to thee I bringThis pledge of faith unwavering,This tribute to thy glory.I know the pangs which thou didst feel,When Slavery crushed thee with its heel,With thy dear blood all gory. Sad days were those–ah, sad indeed!But through the land the fruitful seedOf better times was growing.The plant of freedom upward sprung,And spread […]

We is gathahed hyeah, my brothahs,In dis howlin’ wildaness,Fu’ to speak some words of comfo’tTo each othah in distress.An’ we chooses fu’ ouah subjic’Dis–we’ll ‘splain it by an’ by;“An’ de Lawd said, ‘Moses, Moses,’An’ de man said, ‘Hyeah am I.’” Now ole Pher’oh, down in Egypt,Was de wuss man evah bo’n,An’ he had de Hebrew […]

My heart to thy heart,My hand to thine;My lip to thy lips,Kisses are wineBrewed for the lover in sunshine and shade;Let me drink deep, then, my African maid. Lily to lily,Rose unto rose;My love to thy loveTenderly grows.Rend not the oak and the ivy in twain,Nor the swart maid from her swarthier swain.

I grew a rose once more to please mine eyes.All things to aid it–dew, sun, wind, fair skies–Were kindly; and to shield it from despoil,I fenced it safely in with grateful toil.No other hand than mine shall pluck this flower, said I,And I was jealous of the bee that hovered nigh.It grew for days; I […]

As a quiet little seedlingLay within its darksome bed,To itself it fell a-talking,And this is what it said: “I am not so very robust,But I ‘ll do the best I can;”And the seedling from that momentIts work of life began. So it pushed a little leafletUp into the light of day,To examine the surroundingsAnd show […]

A maiden wept and, as a comforter,Came one who cried, “I love thee,” and he seizedHer in his arms and kissed her with hot breath,That dried the tears upon her flaming cheeks.While evermore his boldly blazing eyeBurned into hers; but she uncomfortedShrank from his arms and only wept the more. Then one came and gazed […]

I ‘ve been list’nin’ to them lawyersIn the court house up the street,An’ I ‘ve come to the conclusionThat I’m most completely beat.Fust one feller riz to argy,An’ he boldly waded inAs he dressed the tremblin’ pris’nerIn a coat o’ deep-dyed sin. Why, he painted him all overIn a hue o’ blackest crime,An’ he smeared […]

There are no beaten paths to Glory’s height,There are no rules to compass greatness known;Each for himself must cleave a path alone,And press his own way forward in the fight.Smooth is the way to ease and calm delight,And soft the road Sloth chooseth for her own;But he who craves the flower of life full-blown,Must struggle […]

Oh, dere ‘s lots o’ keer an’ troubleIn dis world to swaller down;An’ ol’ Sorrer ‘s purty livelyIn her way o’ gittin’ roun’.Yet dere’s times when I furgit em,–Aches an’ pains an’ troubles all,–An’ it’s when I tek at ebenin’My ol’ banjo f’om de wall. ‘Bout de time dat night is fallin’An’ my daily wu’k […]

A bee that was searching for sweets one dayThrough the gate of a rose garden happened to stray.In the heart of a rose he hid away,And forgot in his bliss the light of day,As sipping his honey he buzzed in song;Though day was waning, he lingered long,For the rose was sweet, so sweet. A robin […]

Not o’er thy dust let there be spentThe gush of maudlin sentiment;Such drift as that is not for thee,Whose life and deeds and songs agree,Sublime in their simplicity. Nor shall the sorrowing tear be shed.O singer sweet, thou art not dead!In spite of time’s malignant chill,With living fire thy songs shall thrill,And men shall say, […]

Not they who soar, but they who plodTheir rugged way, unhelped, to GodAre heroes; they who higher fare,And, flying, fan the upper air,Miss all the toil that hugs the sod.‘Tis they whose backs have felt the rod,Whose feet have pressed the path unshod,May smile upon defeated care,Not they who soar. High up there are no […]