Lonesome.

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by Paul Laurence Dunbar

MOTHER 's gone a-visitin' to spend a
month er two,
An', oh, the house is lonesome ez a nest whose
birds has flew
To other trees to build ag'in; the rooms seem
jest so bare
That the echoes run like sperrits from the
kitchen to the stair.
The shetters flap more lazy-like 'n what they
used to do,
Sence mother 's gone a-visitin' to spend a
month er two.

We 've killed the fattest chicken an' we 've
cooked her to a turn;
We 've made the richest gravy, but I jest don't
give a durn
Fur nothin' 'at I drink er eat, er nothin' 'at I
see.

The food ain't got the pleasant taste it used to
have to me.
They 's somep'n' stickin' in my throat ez tight
ez hardened glue,
Sence mother 's gone a-visitin' to spend a
month er two.

The hollyhocks air jest ez pink, they 're double
ones at that,
An' I wuz prouder of 'em than a baby of a cat.
But now I don't go near 'em, though they nod
an' blush at me,
Fur they 's somep'n' seems to gall me in their
keerless sort o' glee
An' all their fren'ly noddin' an' their blushin'
seems to say:
"You 're purty lonesome, John, old boy, sence
mother 's gone away."

The neighbors ain't so fren'ly ez it seems
they 'd ort to be;
They seem to be a-lookin' kinder sideways like
at me,

A-kinder feared they 'd tech me off ez ef I wuz
a match,
An' all because 'at mother 's gone an' I 'm
a-keepin' batch!
I 'm shore I don't do nothin' worse 'n what I
used to do
'Fore mother went a-visitin' to spend a
month er two.

The sparrers ac's more fearsome like an' won't
hop quite so near,
The cricket's chirp is sadder, an' the sky ain't
ha'f so clear;
When ev'nin' comes, I set an' smoke tell my
eyes begin to swim,
An' things aroun' commence to look all blurred
an' faint an' dim.
Well, I guess I 'll have to own up 'at I 'm feelin'
purty blue
Sence mother 's gone a-visitin' to spend a
month er two.


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