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The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar/A Lazy Day

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212161The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar — A Lazy DayPaul Laurence Dunbar

A LAZY DAY

The trees bend down along the stream,
  Where anchored swings my tiny boat.
The day is one to drowse and dream
  And list the thrush's throttling note.
When music from his bosom bleeds
Among the river's rustling reeds.

No ripple stirs the placid pool,
  When my adventurous line is cast,
A truce to sport, while clear and cool,
  The mirrored clouds slide softly past.
The sky gives back a blue divine,
And all the world's wide wealth is mine.

A pickerel leaps, a bow of light,
The minnows shine from side to side.
The first faint breeze comes up the tide—
I pause with half uplifted oar,
While night drifts down to claim the shore.

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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