Paul Laurence Dunbar: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

A Love Song

Paul Laurence Dunbar

“A Love Song” as printed in The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1913).

Paul Laurence Dunbar: Collected Lyrics Text 8 1913 · historical text
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Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

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RosesThe Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1913)by Paul Laurence DunbarA Love SongItching Heels→sister projects: Wikidata item

A LOVE SONG

Ah, love, my love is like a cry in the night,

A long, loud cry to the empty sky,

The cry of a man alone in the desert,

With hands uplifted, with parching lips,

Oh, rescue me, rescue me,

Thy form to mine arms,

The dew of thy lips to my mouth,

Dost thou hear me?—my call thro' the night?

Darling, I hear thee and answer,

Thy fountain am I,

All of the love of my soul will I bring to thee,

All of the pains of my being shall wring to thee,

Deep and forever the song of my loving shall sing to thee,

Ever and ever thro' day and thro' night shall I cling to thee.

Hearest thou the answer?

Darling, I come, I come.

Credits

Written by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Words by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Historical text published in The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1913); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1913), “A Love Song”

Every text in this collected edition is by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906); his works entered the public domain in life-plus-70 jurisdictions in 1977, and the 1913 edition is in the public domain in the United States. The edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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