A Christmas Folksong

Summary


"A Christmas Folksong" by Paul Laurence Dunbar opens on a mild, snowless Christmas Eve thick with damp air and foreboding. The speaker watches others dance, court, and feast, but finds no comfort in the season — only loss. Loved ones named Allen, Marfy, Ca'line, John, and Susie are gone, taken in a springlike Christmas past that brought death instead of cheer. Now, with winter absent and the churchyard full, the speaker warns that this green Christmas carries a curse, and that many more will soon share the grief.

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De win’ is blowin’ wahmah,
An’ hit’s blowin’ f’om de bay;
Dey’s a so’t o’ mist a-risin’
All erlong de meddah way;
Dey ain’t a hint o’ frostin’
On de groun’ ner in de sky,
An’ dey ain’t no use in hopin’
Dat de snow’ll ‘mence to fly.

It’s goin’ to be a green Christmas,
An’ sad de day fu’ me.
I wish dis was de las’ one
Dat evah I should see.

Dey’s dancin’ in de cabin,
Dey’s spahkin’ by de tree;
But dancin’ times an’ spahkin’
Are all done pas’ fur me.
Dey’s feastin’ in de big house,
Wid all de windahs wide—
Is dat de way fu’ people
To meet de Christmas-tide?

A grieving elderly man stands outside a cabin on a green Christmas Eve, illustrating "A Christmas Folksong."

It’s goin’ to be a green Christmas,
No mattah what you say.
Dey’s us dat will remembah
An’ grieve de comin’ day.

Dey’s des a bref o’ dampness
A-clingin’ to my cheek;
De aih’s been dahk an’ heavy
An’ threatenin’ fu’ a week,
But not wid signs o’ wintah,
Dough wintah’d seem so deah—
De wintah’s out o’ season,
An’ Christmas eve is heah.

It’s goin’ to be a green Christmas,
An’ oh, how sad de day!
Go ax de hongry chu’chya’d,
An’ see what hit will say.

Dey’s Allen on de hillside,
An’ Marfy in de plain;
Fu’ Christmas was like springtime,
An’ come wid sun an’ rain.
Dey’s Ca’line, John, an’ Susie,
Wid only dis one lef’:
An’ now de curse is comin’
Wid murder in hits bref.

It’s goin’ to be a green Christmas—
Des hyeah my words an’ see:
Befo’ de summah beckons
Dey’s many ‘ll weep wid me.

Credits

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African American poet and writer from Ohio, widely celebrated as one of the first Black authors to gain national literary fame in the United States. Born in 1872, he was known for his powerful use of dialect verse to capture the rhythms and sorrows of Black Southern life, a technique central to this mournful Christmas poem.