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298

A Crumb, a Crumb, and a Little Seed

A crumb, a crumb, and a little seed,
And the bird will sing all day,
But the poet must have a gilded cage,
Or his songs are all laid away.
[_]

Circa 1890–91. Paul Laurence Dunbar Collection, MSS 659, series 1, box 1, OHS. Quoted by permission. (This poem also appears in Martin and Hudson's Paul Laurence Dunbar Reader.)


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