Lyric Poem · Childhood
Little Brown Baby
1Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes,
2Come to yo' pappy an' set on his knee.
3What you been doin', suh — makin' san' pies?
4Look at dat bib — you's es du'ty ez me.
5Look at dat mouf — dat's merlasses, I bet;
6Come hyeah, Maria, an' wipe off his han's.
7Bees gwine to ketch you an' eat you up yit,
8Bein' so sticky an sweet — goodness lan's!
9Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes,
10Who's pappy's darlin' an' who's pappy's chile?
11Who is it all de day nevah once tries
12Fu' to be cross, er once loses dat smile?
13Whah did you git dem teef? My, you's a scamp!
14Whah did dat dimple come f'om in yo' chin?
15Pappy do' know you — I b'lieves you's a tramp;
16Mammy, dis hyeah's some ol' straggler got in!
17Let's th'ow him outen de do' in de san',
18We do' want stragglers a-layin' 'roun' hyeah;
19Let's gin him 'way to de big buggah-man;
20I know he's hidin' erroun' hyeah right neah.
21Buggah-man, buggah-man, come in de do',
22Hyeah's a bad boy you kin have fu' to eat.
23Mammy an' pappy do' want him no mo',
24Swaller him down f'om his haid to his feet!
25Dah, now, I t'ought dat you'd hug me up close.
26Go back, ol' buggah, you sha'n't have dis boy.
27He ain't no tramp, ner no straggler, of co'se;
28He's pappy's pa'dner an' play-mate an' joy.
29Come to you' pallet now — go to yo' res';
30Wisht you could allus know ease an' cleah skies;
31Wisht you could stay jes' a chile on my breas' —
32Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Little Brown Baby” by Paul Laurence Dunbar — quilloak.com/poems/little-brown-baby
Quick facts
- Poem
- Little Brown Baby
- Poet
- Paul Laurence Dunbar
- Length
- 32 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Childhood, Nature
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 32 lines · 3 stanzas of 8–16 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 9-11 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
- Refrains
- “Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes,”“Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes!”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Paul Laurence Dunbar1872–1906
- Source record
- PoetryDBLittle Brown Baby by paul-laurence-dunbar, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 85f95a5dd87d41e0…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.