Paul Laurence Dunbar: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Ballad

Paul Laurence Dunbar

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

Paul Laurence Dunbar: Collected Lyrics Text 22 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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BALLAD

Verse 2

I know my love is true,

And oh the day is fair.

The sky is clear and blue,

The flowers are rich of hue,

The air I breathe is rare,

I have no grief or care;

For my own love is true,

And oh 'the day is fair.

My love is false I find,

And oh the day is dark.

Blows sadly down the wind,

While sorrow holds my mind;

I do not hear the lark,

For quenched is life's dear spark,—

My love is false I find,

And oh the day is dark!

For love doth make the day

Or dark or doubly bright;

Her beams along the way

Dispel the gloom and gray.

She lives and all is bright,

She dies and life is night.

For love doth make the day,

Or dark or doubly bright.

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), “Ballad”

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

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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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