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A Boy's Summer Song
by
Paul Laurence Dunbar


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     'Tis fine to play
     In the fragrant hay,
And romp on the golden load;
     To ride old Jack
     To the barn and back,
Or tramp by a shady road.
     To pause and drink,
     At a mossy brink;
Ah, that is the best of joy,
     And so I say
     On a summer's day,
What's so fine as being a boy?
          Ha, Ha!

     With line and hook
     By a babbling brook,
The fisherman's sport we ply;
     And list the song
     Of the feathered throng
That flit in the branches nigh.
     At last we strip
     For a quiet dip;
Ah, that is the best of joy.
     For this I say
     On a summer's day,
What's so fine as being a boy?
          Ha, Ha!


This poem is in the public domain.

 

 


Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) was from Ohio. He wrote his first poem at the age of six, was editor of his high school newspaper, and published his first book at twenty. His writing attracted attention from the very beginning, and Paul became well-known in both America and around the world. Like James Whitcomb Riley, who was a fan of his young contemporary's work, Paul wrote many of his poems in dialect. Besides a dozen books of poetry, Paul wrote four short story collections, five novels, a play, and the first  Broadway musical ever written and performed by African-Americans. A tremendously successful poet whose work was being published in all the major literary publications of his day, Paul's life was cut tragically short by tuberculosis.

              

 


Post New Comment:
michael escoubas:
I've read Mr. Dunbar too! He is surely at the top of his game with this poem. Thank you.
Posted 06/26/2019 08:54 AM


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