Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow/Forever

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Layout 2

FOREVER

I HAD not known before
 Forever was so long a word.
The slow stroke of the clock of time
 I had not heard.

'Tis hard to learn so late;
 It seems no sad heart really learns,
But hopes and trusts and doubts and
  fears,
 And bleeds and burns.

The night is not all dark,
 Nor is the day all it seems,
But each may bring me this relief—
 My dreams and dreams.

I had not known before
 That Never was so sad a word,
So wrap me in forgetfulness—
 I have not heard.