With the Lark

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted for independence, and two days later the Declaration of Independence was adopted.  While this was the first step in liberating the fledgling United States, the Declaration did not apply to slaves, indentured servants, or women.  Their exclusion had long-lasting effects on the country's literary and artistic landscape.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, born ninety-six years after the first Independence Day, was one of the first Black poets to gain publication of his work.  His poem about resilience, “With the Lark,” was printed in 1922 by Dodd, Mead & Company.  

Today we honor liberty and justice for all.

---

With the Lark

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Night is for sorrow and dawn is for joy,

Chasing the troubles that fret and annoy;

Darkness for sighing and daylight for song,--

Cheery and chaste the strain, heartfelt and strong.

All the night through, though I moan in the dark,

I wake in the morning to sing with the lark.

Deep in the midnight the rain whips the leaves,

Softly and sadly the wood-spirit grieves.

But when the first hue of dawn tints the sky,

I shall shake out my wings like the birds and be dry;

And though, like the rain-drops, I grieved through the dark,

I shall wake in the morning to sing with the lark.

On the high hills of heaven, some morning to be,

Where the rain shall not grieve thro' the leaves of the tree,

There my heart will be glad for the pain I have known,

For my hand will be clasped in the hand of mine own;

And though life has been hard and death's pathway been dark,

I shall wake in the morning to sing with the lark.