Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day,
     Few are my years, but my griefs are not few,
Ever to youth should each day be a May-day,
     Warm wind and rose-breath and diamonded dew—
Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day.
Oh for the sunlight that shines on a May-day!
     Only the cloud hangeth over my life.
Love that should bring me youth's happiest heyday
    Brings me but seasons of sorrow and strife;
Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day.
Sunshine or shadow, or gold day or gray day,
     Life must be lived as our destinies rule;
Leisure or labor or work day or play day—
     Feasts for the famous and fun for the fool;
Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day.
 

Poems by This Author

A Negro Love Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Seen my lady home las' night,
Beyond the Years by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Beyond the years the answer lies
Frederick Douglass by Paul Laurence Dunbar
A hush is over all the teeming lists
In Summer by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Oh, summer has clothed the earth
Invitation to Love by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Come when the nights are bright with stars
Ships That Pass in the Night by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing
Signs of the Times by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Air a-gittin' cool an' coolah
Summer in the South by Paul Laurence Dunbar
The oriole sings in the greening grove
Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
The Debt by Paul Laurence Dunbar
This is the debt I pay
We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies
When Malindy Sings by Paul Laurence Dunbar
G'way an' quit dat noise, Miss Lucy--


Further Reading

Related Poems
Sonnet
by Alice Dunbar-Nelson