Paul Laurence Dunbar: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Masters

Paul Laurence Dunbar

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

Paul Laurence Dunbar: Collected Lyrics Text 112 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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THE MASTERS

Verse 2

Oh, who is the Lord of the land of life,

When hotly goes the fray?

When, fierce we smile in the midst of strife

Then whom shall we obey?

Oh, Love is the Lord of the land of life

Who holds a monarch's sway;

He wends with wish of maid and wife,

And him you must obey.

Then who is the Lord of the land of life,

At setting of the sun?

Whose word shall sway when Peace is rife

And all the fray is done?

Then Death is the Lord of the land of life,

When your hot race is run.

Meet then his scythe and, pruning-knife

When the fray is lost or won.

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), “The Masters”

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

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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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