Poems by James Whitcomb Riley

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A Life-Lesson

There! little girl; don't cry!

They have broken your doll, I know;

And your tea-set blue,

And your play-house, too,

Are things of the long ago;

But childish troubles will soon pass by. —

There! little girl; don't cry!

James Whitcomb Riley

The Raggedy Man

O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;

An' he's the goodest man ever you saw!

He comes to our house every day,

An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;

An' he opens the shed — an' we all ist laugh

When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;

An' nen — ef our hired girl says he can —

He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann. —

James Whitcomb Riley

Her Beautiful Eyes

O her beautiful eyes! they are as blue as the dew

On the violet's bloom when the morning is new,

And the light of their love is the gleam of the sun

O'er the meadows of Spring where the quick shadows run:

As the morn shirts the mists and the clouds from the skies--

So I stand in the dawn of her beautiful eyes.

And her beautiful eyes are as midday to me,

When the lily-bell bends with the weight of the bee,

James Whitcomb Riley

Her Beautiful Hands

Your hands--they are strangely fair!

O Fair--for the jewels that sparkle there,--

Fair--for the witchery of the spell

That ivory keys alone can tell;

But when their delicate touches rest

Here in my own do I love them best,

As I clasp with eager, acquisitive spans

My glorious treasure of beautiful hands!

James Whitcomb Riley

To Annie

When the lids of dusk are falling

O'er the dreamy eyes of day,

And the whippoorwills are calling,

And the lesson laid away,--

May Mem'ry soft and tender

As the prelude of the night,

Bend over you and render

As tranquil a delight.

James Whitcomb Riley

A Delicious Interruption

All were quite gracious in their plaudits of

Bud's Fairy; but another stir above

That murmur was occasioned by a sweet

Young lady-caller, from a neighboring street,

Who rose reluctantly to say good-night

To all the pleasant friends and the delight

Experienced,--as she had promised sure

To be back home by nine. Then paused, demure,

James Whitcomb Riley

"Old Bob White"

Old Bob White's a funny bird!--

Funniest you ever heard!--

Hear him whistle,--"Old--Bob--_White_!"

You can hear him, clean from where

He's 'way 'crosst the wheat-field there,

Whistlin' like he didn't care--

"Old-Bob-_White_!"

Whistles alluz ist the same--

James Whitcomb Riley

A Country Pathway

I come upon it suddenly, alone--

A little pathway winding in the weeds

That fringe the roadside; and with dreams my own,

I wander as it leads.

Full wistfully along the slender way,

Through summer tan of freckled shade and shine,

I take the path that leads me as it may--

Its every choice is mine.

James Whitcomb Riley

"Tradin' Joe"

I'm one o' these cur'ous kind o' chaps

You think you know when you don't, perhaps!

I hain't no fool--ner I don't p'tend

To be so smart I could rickommend

Myself fer a CONGERSSMAN my friend!--

But I'm kind o' betwixt-and-between, you know,--

One o' these fellers 'at folks call "slow."

And I'll say jest here I'm kind o' queer

James Whitcomb Riley

A Ballad

With A Serious Conclusion

Crowd about me, little children--

Come and cluster 'round my knee

While I tell a little story

That happened once with me.

My father he had gone away

A-sailing on the foam,

Leaving me--the merest infant--

James Whitcomb Riley

"Company Manners"

When Bess gave her Dollies a Tea, said she,--

"It's unpolite, when they's Company,

To say you've drinked _two_ cups, you see,--

But say you've drinked _a couple_ of tea."

James Whitcomb Riley

A Child-World

_The Child-World--long and long since lost to view--

A Fairy Paradise!--

How always fair it was and fresh and new--

How every affluent hour heaped heart and eyes

With treasures of surprise!

Enchantments tangible: The under-brink

Of dawns that launched the sight

Up seas of gold: The dewdrop on the pink,

James Whitcomb Riley