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A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Capture

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Duck come switchin’ ‘cross de lot
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!
Hurry up an’ hide de pot
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!
Duck’s a mighty ’spicious fowl,
Slick as snake an’ wise as owl;
Hol’ dat dog, don’t let him yowl!
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!

Th’ow dat co’n out kind o’ slow
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!
Keep yo’se’f behin’ de do’
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!
Lots o’ food’ll kill his feah,
Co’n is cheap but fowls is deah—
“Come, good ducky, come on heah.”
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!

Ain’t he fat and ain’t he fine,
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!
Des can’t wait to make him mine.
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!
See him waddle when he walk,
‘Sh! keep still and don’t you talk!
Got you! Don’t you daih to squawk!
    Hi, oh, Miss Lady!
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar | Dodd, Mead And Company, 1922
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