DEAD POETS REMEMBRANCE DAY

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On Saturday 10/4 @7 pm the Let's Talk Poetry Group met at John Bishop Memorial Park, in Whitehall Ohio to read the poetry of Ohio's own Paul Laurence Dunbar. It was a poetry event as part of the observance of the 5th Annual Dead Poets Remembrance Day.

Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872, the son of former slaves. In 1896 he published a collection of verse, Lyrics of Lowly Life, for which he gained national recognition. He died in Dayton in 1906. The house in which he lived from 1904-06 is now a historic museum.


The event began with a brief reading of Dunbar's biography. After a silent moment of remembrance, the following poems were recited aloud on the stage of the John F. Lacorte Amphitheater: The Negro Love Song, We Wear the Mask, When Malindy Sings, and 

           COMPENSATION

Because I had loved so deeply,
Because I had loved so long,
God in His compassion
Gave me the gift of song.

Because I had loved so vainly,
And sung with such faltering breath,
The Master in infinite mercy
Offers the boon of death.