Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Elmer Brown

Awf'lest boy in this-here townEr anywheres is Elmer Brown!He'll mock you--yes, an' strangers, too,An' make a face an' yell at you,--'_Here's_ the way..

© James Whitcomb Riley

I Smoke My Pipe

I can't extend to every friendIn need a helping hand--No matter though I wish it so,'Tis not as Fortune planned;But haply may I fancy theyAre men of..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Limitations Of Genius

The audience entire seemed pleased--indeed_Extremely_ pleased. And little Maymie, freedFrom her task of instructing, ran to showHer wondrous colored..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Scrawl

I want to sing something-- but this is all--I try and I try, but the rhymes are dullAs though they were damp, and the echoes fallLimp and..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Our Little Girl

Her heart knew naught of sorrow,Nor the vaguest taint of sin--'Twas an ever-blooming blossomOf the purity within:And her hands knew only touchesOf..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Dan Paine

Old friend of mine, whose chiming nameHas been the burthen of a rhymeWithin my heart since first I cameTo know thee in thy mellow prime;With warm..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Lockerbie Street

Such a dear little street it is, nestled awayFrom the noise of the city and heat of the day,In cool shady coverts of whispering trees,With their..

© James Whitcomb Riley

His Mother's Way

Tomps 'ud allus haf to saySomepin' 'bout 'his mother's way.'--_He_ lived hard-like--never jinedAny church of any kind.--'It was Mother's way,' says..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Jack-In-The-Box

_(Grandfather, musing.)_In childish days! O memory,You bring such curious things to me!--Laughs to the lip--tears to the eye,In looking on the gifts..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Honey Dripping From The Comb

How slight a thing may set one's fancy driftingUpon the dead sea of the Past!--A view--Sometimes an odor--or a rooster liftingA far-off 'OOH!..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Just To Be Good

Just to be good--This is enough--enough!O we who find sin's billows wild and rough,Do we not feel how more than any goldWould be the blameless life..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Winter Fancies

IWinter withoutAnd warmth within;The winds may shoutAnd the storm begin;The snows may packAt the window pane,And the skies grow black,And the sun..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Writin' Back To The Home-Folks

My dear old friends--It jes beats all,The way you write a letterSo's ever' _last_ line beats the _first_,And ever' _next_-un's better!--W'y, ever'..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Noey's Night-Piece

'They ain't much 'tale' about it!' Noey said.--'K'tawby grapes wuz gittin' good-n-redI rickollect; and Tubb Kingry and me'Ud kindo' browse round..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Naughty Claude

When Little Claude was naughty wunstAt dinner-time, an' saidHe won't say '_Thank you_' to his Ma,She maked him go to bedAn' stay two hours an' not..

© James Whitcomb Riley

John Alden And Percilly

We got up a Christmas-doin'sLast Christmas Eve--Kindo' dimonstration'At I railly believeGive more satisfaction--Take it up and down--Than ary..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A New Year's Time At Willards's

1The Hired Man TalksThere's old man Willards; an' his wife;An' Marg'et-- S'repty's sister--; an'There's me-- an' I'm the hired man;An' Tomps McClure..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Blooms Of May

But yesterday!...O blooms of May,And summer roses--Where-away?O stars above,And lips of loveAnd all the honeyed sweets thereof!O lad and lassAnd..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Our Own

They walk here with us, hand-in-hand;We gossip, knee-by-knee;They tell us all that they have planned--Of all their joys to be,--And, laughing, leave..

© James Whitcomb Riley

When Early March Seems Middle May

When country roads begin to thawIn mottled spots of damp and dust,And fences by the margin drawAlong the frosty crustTheir graphic silhouettes, I..

© James Whitcomb Riley

While The Musician Played

O it was but a dream I hadWhile the musician played!--And here the sky, and here the gladOld ocean kissed the glade--And here the laughing ripples..

© James Whitcomb Riley

My Father's Halls

My father's halls, so rich and rare,Are desolate and bleak and bare;My father's heart and halls are one,Since I, their life and light, am gone.O..

© James Whitcomb Riley

At Sea

O we go down to sea in ships--But Hope remains behind,And Love, with laughter on his lips,And Peace, of passive mind;While out across the deeps of..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Longfellow

The winds have talked with him confidingly;The trees have whispered to him; and the nightHath held him gently as a mother might,And taught him all..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Bedouin

O love is like an untamed steed!--So hot of heart and wild of speed,And with fierce freedom so in love,The desert is not vast enough,With all its..

© James Whitcomb Riley