The Debt
The Debt
Original Text
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1913), Facsimile in The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, ed. Joanne M. Braxton (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1993), p. 213. PS 1556 AI 1993 Robarts Library.
1This is the debt I pay
2Just for one riotous day,
3Years of regret and grief,
4Sorrow without relief.
5Pay it I will to the end --
6Until the grave, my friend,
7Gives me a true release --
8Gives me the clasp of peace.
9Slight was the thing I bought,
10Small was the debt I thought,
11Poor was the loan at best --
12God! but the interest!
Publication Start Year
1903
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme