Paul Laurence Dunbar Quotes

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask!

I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind blows soft through the springing grass,
And the river floats like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels! I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why he beats his wing! I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea that upward to Heaven he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!

It is a little dark still, but there are warnings of the day and somewhere out of the darkness a bird is singing to the Dawn.

Because you love me I have much achieved,
Had you despised me then I must have failed,
But since I knew you trusted and believed,
I could not disappoint you and so prevailed.

You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

An angel, robed in spotless white,
Bent down and kissed the sleeping Night.
Night woke to blush; the sprite was gone.
Men saw the blush and called it Dawn.