178
W'en de evenin' shadders 185
W'en de snow's a-fallin' 188
W'en I git up in de mo'nin' an' de clouds is big an' black 172
W'en us fellers stomp around, makin' lots o' noise 264
W'en you full o' worry 250
What are the things that make life bright? 238
What dreams we have and how they fly 166
What if the wind do howl without 75
What says the wind to the waving trees? 68
What's the use o' folks a-frownin' 249
When all is done, and my last word is said 113
When August days are hot an' dry 130
When de fiddle gits to singin' out a ol' Vahginny reel 138
When first of wise old Johnson taught 129
When I come in f'm de co'n-fiel' aftah wo'kin' ha'd all day 155
When I was young I longed for Love 98
When labor is light and the morning is fair 70
When Phyllis sighs and from her eyes 175
When storms arise 66
When summer time has come, and all 280
When the bees are humming in the honeysuckle vine 215
When the corn's all cut and the bright stalks shine 16
When to sweet music my lady is dancing 175
When winter covering all the ground 275
When you and I were young, the days 24
Who dat knockin' at de do'? 184
Who say my hea't ain't true to you? 133
Whose little lady is you, chile 198
Whut dat you whisperin' keepin' f'om me? 136
Whut time 'd dat clock strike? 254
Whut you say, dah? huh, uh! chile 153
Why fades a dream? 77
Why was it that the thunder voice of Fate 221
Will I have some mo' dat pie? 203
Win' a-blowin' gentle so de san' lay low 191
Wintah, summah, snow er shine 178
Wintah time hit comin' 241
With sombre mien, the evening gray 123
With what thou gavest me, O Master 276
Within a London garret high 96
Woman's sho' a cur'ous critter, an' dey ain't no doubtin' dat 170
Yes, my ha't 's ez ha'd ez stone 62
Yesterday I held your hand 257
You ask why I am sad to-day 220
You bid me hold my peace 286
You kin talk about yer anthems 53
You'll be wonderin' whut's de reason 131
Your presence like a benison to me 266
Your spoken words are roses fine and sweet 270
LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE
ERE SLEEP COMES DOWN TO SOOTHE THE WEARY EYES
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,
Which all the day with ceaseless care have sought
The magic gold which from the seeker flies;
Ere dreams put on the gown and cap of thought,
And make the waking world a world of lies—
Of lies most palpable, uncouth, forlorn,
That say life's full of aches and tears and sighs—
Oh, how with more than dreams the soul is torn,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,
How all the griefs and heart-aches we have known
Come up like pois'nous vapors that arise
From some base witch's caldron, when the crone,
To work some potent spell, her magic plies.
The past which held its share of bitter pain,
Whose ghost we prayed that Time might exorcise,
Comes up, is lived and suffered o'er again,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,
What phantoms fill the dimly lighted room;
What ghostly shades in awe-creating guise
Are bodied forth within the teeming gloom.
What echoes faint of sad and soul-sick cries,
And pangs of vague inexplicable pain
That pay the spirit's ceaseless enterprise,
Come thronging through the chambers of the brain,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,
Where ranges forth the spirit far and free?
Through what strange realms and unfamiliar skies
Tends her far course to lands of mystery?
To lands unspeakable—beyond surmise,
Where shapes unknowable to being spring,
Till, faint of wing, the Fancy fails and dies
Much wearied with the spirit's journeying,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,
How questioneth the soul that other soul—
The inner sense which neither cheats nor lies,
But self exposes unto self, a scroll
Full writ with all life's acts unwise or wise,
In characters indelible and known;
So, trembling with the shock of sad surprise,