Invitation to Love (Monday Poem)

by Paul Lawrence Dunbar


Come when the nights are bright with stars,
Or come when the moon is mellow;
Come when the Sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay-field yellow.
Come in the twilight soft and gray,
Come in the night or come in the day,
Come, oh Love, whene'er you may,
And you are welcome, welcome.

You are sweet, oh Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove,
Come to my heart and bring it rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

Come when my heart is full of grief,
Or when my heart is merry;
Come with the falling of the leaf,
Or with the redd'ning cherry.
Come when the year's first blossom blows,
Come when the summer gleams and glows,
Come with the winter's drifting snows,
And you are welcome, welcome.



from Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar by Sally Derby, 2015, Candlewick Press