greykit.poetry — Paul Laurence Dunbar

• 1899 [paul-laurence-dunbar] Sympathy
  Lyrics of the Hearthside

  I know why the caged bird sings — not for joy but because the bars have cut his wings and his song is a prayer flung up from the heart's deep core.

  #lyric#race#freedom#1890s
• 1896 [paul-laurence-dunbar] We Wear the Mask
  Lyrics of Lowly Life

  The mask that grins and lies is the debt paid to human guile — let the world count only the smiles, while the clay is vile beneath the feet and the long mile stretches on.

  #rondeau#race#concealment#1890s