Lyrics of Lowly Life / by Paul Laurence Dunbar [electronic text]

About this Item

Title
Lyrics of Lowly Life / by Paul Laurence Dunbar [electronic text]
Author
Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 1872-1906.
Publication
London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.
1897
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Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/BAC5659.0001.001
Cite this Item
"Lyrics of Lowly Life / by Paul Laurence Dunbar [electronic text]." In the digital collection American Verse Project. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/BAC5659.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 14, 2025.

Pages

SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT.

OUT in the sky the great dark clouds are massing; I look far out into the pregnant night, Where I can hear a solemn booming gun And catch the gleaming of a random light, That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.
My tearful eyes my soul's deep hurt are glassing; For I would hail and check that ship of ships.

Page 151

I stretch my hands imploring, cry aloud, My voice falls dead a foot from mine own lips, And but its ghost doth reach that vessel, passing, passing.
O Earth, O Sky, O Ocean, both surpassing, O heart of mine, O soul that dreads the dark! Is there no hope for me? Is there no way That I may sight and check that speeding bark Which out of sight and sound is passing, passing?
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