The Lesson

Sorry, folks...only the "Random" today...not so much the "Shallow". The PBA are reading Dunbar's works for their poetry this trimester. I was recently struck by this poem in particular. So applicable all the time, but especially during this time of year and I felt compelled to share it with you, my expansive readership (see, that's funny because there are only a handful of you...but I appreciate you all more than you know!)




May God bless you by this poet's words.

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MY cot was down by a cypress grove,

And I sat by my window the whole night long,

And heard well up from the deep dark wood

A mocking-bird's passionate song.




And I thought of myself so sad and lone,

And my life's cold winter that knew no spring;

Of my mind so weary and sick and wild,

Of my heart too sad to sing.




But e'en as I listened the mock-bird's song,

A thought stole into my saddened heart,

And I said, "I can cheer some other soul

By a carol's simple art."




For oft from the darkness of hearts and lives

Come songs that brim with joy and light,

As out of the gloom of the cypress grove

The mocking-bird sings at night.




So I sang a lay for a brother's ear

In a strain to soothe his bleeding heart,

And he smiled at the sound of my voice and lyre,

Though mine was a feeble art.




But at his smile I smiled in turn,

And into my soul there came a ray:

In trying to soothe another's woes

Mine own had passed away.

 - Paul Laurence Dunbar