4.05: Poetry of the Civil War Era

We Wear the Mask
by Paul Laurence Dunbar

1. We wear the mask that grins and lies,
2. It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,­-
3. This debt we pay to human guile;
4. With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
5. And mouth with myriad subtleties.
   
   
6. Why should the world be over-wise,
7. In counting all our tears and sighs?
8. Nay, let them only see us, while
9. We wear the mask.
   
   
10. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
11. To thee from tortured souls arise.
12. We sing, but oh the clay is vile
13. Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
14. But let the world dream other-wise,
15. We wear the mask!

Because I Could Not Stop For Death
by Emily Dickinson

1. Because I could not stop for Death --
2. He kindly stopped for me --
3. The Carriage held but just Ourselves --
4. And Immortality.
5. We slowly drove -- He knew no haste
   
   
6. And I had put away
7. My labor and my leisure too,
8. For His Civility --
   
   
9. We passed the School, where Children strove
10. At Recess -- in the Ring --
11. We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain --
12. We passed the Setting Sun --
    
    
13. Or rather -- He passed Us --
14. The Dews drew quivering and chill --
15. For only Gossamer, my Gown --
16. My Tippet -- only Tulle --
    
    
17. We paused before a House that seemed
18. A Swelling of the Ground --
19. The Roof was scarcely visible --
20. The Cornice -- in the Ground --
    
    
21. Since then -- 'tis Centuries -- and yet
22. Feels shorter than the Day
23. I first surmised the Horses' Heads
24. Were toward Eternity --