The Sum
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Publication Information
Published in Lyrics of the Hearthside (1899)
Performed by Herbert Woodward Martin
Musical Settings
John Carrington, A Little Dreaming by the Way (January 1899)
Gary Bachlund, The Sum (low voice or medium voice and piano) (January 2009)
Recommended Citation
Dunbar, Paul Laurence, "The Sum" (1899). Dunbar Music Archive. 13.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dunbar/13
COinS
Text
A little dreaming by the way,
A little toiling day by day;
A little pain, a little strife,
A little joy, -- and that is life.
A little short-lived summer's morn,
When joy seems all so newly born,
When one day's sky is blue above,
And one bird sings, -- and that is love.
A little sickening of the years,
The tribute of a few hot tears
Two folded hands, the failing breath,
And peace at last, -- and that is death.
Just dreaming, loving, dying so,
The actors in the drama go --
A flitting picture on a wall,
Love, Death, the themes; but is that all?