South Carolina State University - Bulldog Yearbook (Orangeburg, SC)

Page 8 text:

| know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume from its chalice steals — | know what the caged bird feels! | know why the caged bird beats his wing, Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting — | know why he beats his wing! | know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, — When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings — | know why the caged bird sings! Paul Laurence Dunbar

Page 10 text:

Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, | And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time : Ise been a-climbin’ on, ; ‘ And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, Ise still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.