A Set of Three Dunbar Poems

Song Cycle by Betty Jackson King (1928 - 1994)

1. Dawn  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
An angel, robed in spotless white,
Bent down and kissed the sleeping Night.
Night woke to blush; the sprite was gone.
[Men]1 saw the blush and called it Dawn.

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

View text without footnotes
1 Hall: "Man"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

2. Theology  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
There is a heaven, for ever, day by day,
The upward longing of my soul doth tell me so.
There is a hell, I'm quite sure; for pray,
If there were not, where would my neighbours go?

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. Compensation  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Because I had loved so deeply,
Because I had loved so long,
God in His great compassion
Gave me the gift of song.

Because I have loved so vainly,
And sung with such faltering [breath]1,
The Master in infinite mercy
Offers the boon of Death.

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

View text without footnotes

Confirmed with The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company.

1 Price: "trill"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
Total word count: 114