Forever by Paul Laurence Dunbar

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend August 8, 2015   Forever   Paul Laurence Dunbar

I had not known before     Forever was so long a word. The slow stroke of the clock of time     I had not heard.   ‘Tis hard to learn so late;     It seems no sad heart really learns, But hopes and trusts and doubts and fears,     And bleeds and burns.   The night is not all dark,     Nor is the day all it seems, But each may bring me this relief—     My dreams and dreams.   I had not known before     That Never was so sad a word, So wrap me in forgetfulness—      I have not heard.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “Forever” was published in Dunbar’s Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (The Century Co., 1901).   Born on June 27, 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first African-American poets to gain national recognition. His collections of verse include Majors and Minors (1895) and Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903). Dunbar died in Dayton, Ohio, on February 9, 1906, at the age of thirty-three. Poetry by Dunbar   Selected Poems (Dover Publications, 1997) "When We Two Parted" by George Gordon, Lord Byron "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038