<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">The Paradox</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I am the mother of sorrows, </div><div class=""> I am the ender of grief; </div><div class="">I am the bud and the blossom, </div><div class=""> I am the late-falling leaf. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I am thy priest and thy poet, </div><div class=""> I am thy serf and thy king; </div><div class="">I cure the tears of the heartsick, </div><div class=""> When I come near they shall sing. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">White are my hands as the snowdrop; </div><div class=""> Swart are my fingers as clay; </div><div class="">Dark is my frown as the midnight, </div><div class=""> Fair is my brow as the day. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Battle and war are my minions, </div><div class=""> Doing my will as divine; </div><div class="">I am the calmer of passions, </div><div class=""> Peace is a nursling of mine. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Speak to me gently or curse me, </div><div class=""> Seek me or fly from my sight; </div><div class="">I am thy fool in the morning, </div><div class=""> Thou art my slave in the night. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Down to the grave will I take thee, </div><div class=""> Out from the noise of the strife; </div><div class="">Then shalt thou see me and know me— </div><div class=""> Death, then, no longer, but life. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Then shalt thou sing at my coming, </div><div class=""> Kiss me with passionate breath, </div><div class="">Clasp me and smile to have thought me </div><div class=""> Aught save the foeman of Death. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Come to me, brother, when weary, </div><div class=""> Come when thy lonely heart swells; </div><div class="">I’ll guide thy footsteps and lead thee </div><div class=""> Down where the Dream Woman dwells. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- <span style="font-style: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: sans-serif;" class="">Paul Laurence Dunbar</span><span style="font-style: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: sans-serif;" class=""> </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an African-American poet, novelist, and playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His parents were slaves. He died at 33 from tuberculosis. </span></div><div class=""></div></body></html>