The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar/If

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

For works with similar titles, see If.

             IF
If life were but a dream, my Love,
  And death the waking time;
If day had not a beam, my Love,
  And night had not a rhyme,—
    A barren, barren world were this
    Without one saving gleam;
    I 'd only ask that with a kiss
    You 'd wake me from the dream.

If dreaming were the sum of days,
  And loving were the bane;
If battling for a wreath of bays
  Could soothe a heart in pain,—
    I 'd scorn the meed of battle's might,
    All other aims above
    I 'd choose the human's higher right,
    To suffer and to love!