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Show PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR'S POEMS. ' 't The death of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, the, negro poet, and the author of novels, verses, and other writings, has renewed interest in this remarkable . f man. He was a poet of more than ordinary abili ity, and a wonderful example of what the negro can accomplish. Below are a few of his verses: ' Farewell to Arcady. j With sombre mien, the Evening gray I Comes nagging at the heels of Day, And driven faster and still faster Before the dusky-mantled Master, The light fades from her fearful eyes, . She hastens, stumbles, falls, and dies.. - :' Beside me Amaryllis weeps; The swelling tears obscure the deeps Of her dark eyes, as, mistily, The rushing rain conceals the sea. Here, lay my tuneless reed away, I have no heart to tempt a lay. I scent the perfume of the rose Which by my crystal fountain grows. In this sad time, are roses blowing? And thou, my fountain, art thou flowing While I who watched thy waters spring Am all too sad to smile or sing? Nay, give me back my pipe again, It yet shall breathe this single strain: Farewell to Arcady! The Right to Die. I have no fancy for that ancient cant That makes us masters of our "destinies, And not our lives, to hold or give them up As will directs; I cannot, will not think That men, the subtle worms, who plot and plan And scheme and calculate with such shrewd wit, Are such great blund'ring fools as not to know When they have lived enough. Men court not death When there are sweets still left in life to taste. Nor will a brave man choose to live when he, t Full deeply drunk of life, has reached the dregs, . And knows that now but bitterness remains. He is the coward who, outfaced in this, Fears the false goblins of another life. I honor him who being much harassed Drinks of sweet courage until drunk of it, Then seizing Death, reluctant, by the hand, Leaps with him, fearless, to eternal peace! |