Название: The Complete Poems Of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Автор: Paul Laurence Dunbar
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Языкознание
isbn: 9781473370302
isbn:
An’ was doin’ well enough—
Singin’ good as people could sing
Sich an awful mess o’ stuff—
When the choir give a holler,
An’ the organ give a groan,
An’ they left one weak-voiced feller
A-singin’ there alone!
But he stuck right to the music,
–
Tho’ ‘t was tryin’ as could be;
An’ when I tried to help him,
Why, the hull church scowled at me.
You say that’s so-low singin’,
Well, I pray the Lord that I
Growed up when folks was willin’
To sing their hymns so high.
Why, we never had sich doin’s
In the good ol’ Bethel days,
When the folks was all contented
With the simple songs of praise.
Now I may have spoke too open,
But ‘twas too hard to keep still,
An’ I hope you ‘ll tell the singers
‘At I bear ‘em no ill-will.
‘At they all may git to glory
Is my wish an’ my desire,
But they ‘ll need some extry trainin’
‘Fore they jine the heavenly choir.
ALICE
Know you, winds that blow your course
Down the verdant valleys,
That somewhere you must, perforce,
Kiss the brow of Alice?
When her gentle face you find,
Kiss it softly, naughty wind.
Roses waving fair and sweet
Thro’ the garden alleys,
Grow into a glory meet
For the eye of Alice;
Let the wind your offering bear
Of sweet perfume, faint and rare.
Lily holding crystal dew
In your pure white chalice,
Nature kind hath fashioned you
Like the soul of Alice;
It of purest white is wrought,
Filled with gems of crystal thought.
AFTER THE QUARREL
So we, who ‘ve supped the self-same cup,
To-night must lay our friendship by;
Your wrath has burned your judgment up,
Hot breath has blown the ashes high.
You say that you are wronged—ah, well,
I count that friendship poor, at best
A bauble, a mere bagatelle,
That cannot stand so slight a test.
I fain would still have been your friend,
–
And talked and laughed and loved with you;
But since it must, why, let it end;
The false but dies, ‘t is not the true.
So we are favored, you and I,
Who only want the living truth.
It was not good to nurse the lie;
‘T is well it died in harmless youth.
I go from you to-night to sleep.
Why, what’s the odds? why should I grieve?
I have no fund of tears to weep
For happenings that undeceive.
The days shall come, the days shall go
Just as they came and went before.
The sun shall shine, the streams shall flow
Though you and I are friends no more.
And in the volume of my years,
Where all my thoughts and acts shall be,
The page whereon your name appears
Shall be forever sealed to me.
Not that I hate you over-much,
‘T is less of hate than love defied;
Howe’er, our hands no more shall touch,
We ‘ll go our ways, the world is wide.
BEYOND THE YEARS
I
Beyond the years the answer lies,
Beyond where brood the grieving skies
And Night drops tears.
Where Faith rod-chastened smiles to rise
And doff its fears,
And carping Sorrow pines and dies—
Beyond the years.
II
Beyond the years the prayer for rest
Shall beat no more within the breast;
The darkness clears,
And СКАЧАТЬ