Paul laurence dunbar biography poems about dreams

This week in our special series of Featured Poems, Learning and Quality Coordinator at The Reader, Lisa Spurgin takes us through Dreams by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Dreams

What dreams we have and how they fly
Like rosy clouds across the sky;
Of wealth, of fame, of sure success,
Of love that comes to cheer and bless;
And how they wither, how they fade,
The waning wealth, the jilting jade —
The fame that for a moment gleams,
Then flies forever, —dreams, ah —dreams!

O burning doubt and long regret
O tears with which our eyes are wet,
Heart-throbs, heart-aches, the glut of pain,
The somber cloud, the bitter rain,
You were not of those dreams — ah!

Paul laurence dunbar biography poems about dreams

well,
Your full fruition who can tell?
Wealth, fame, and love, ah! love that beams
Upon our souls, all dreams — ah! dreams.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

There’s been a lot of talk about dreams during lockdown, with the strange situation we’ve all found ourselves in seeming to have