African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Slow Through the Dark" (1902)

SLOW THROUGH THE DARK

  Slow moves the pageant of a climbing race;
    Their footsteps drag far, far below the height,
    And, unprevailing by their utmost might,
  Seem faltering downward from each hard won place.
  No strange, swift-sprung exception we; we trace
    A devious way thro' dim, uncertain light,--
    Our hope, through the long vistaed years, a sight
  Of that our Captain's soul sees face to face.
    Who, faithless, faltering that the road is steep,
  Now raiseth up his drear insistent cry?
    Who stoppeth here to spend a while in sleep
  Or curseth that the storm obscures the sky?
    Heed not the darkness round you, dull and deep;
  The clouds grow thickest when the summit's nigh.

Published in Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1902)

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