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").

If I Knew What Poets Know

If I knew what poets know,Would I write a rhymeOf the buds that never blowIn the summer-time?Would I sing of golden seedsSpringing up in..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Her Face And Brow

Ah, help me! but her face and browAre lovelier than lilies areBeneath the light of moon and starThat smile as they are smiling now-White lilies in a..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Monument For The Soldiers

A monument for the Soldiers!And what will ye build it of?Can ye build it of marble, or brass, or bronze,Outlasting the Soldiers' love?Can ye glorify..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Unless

Who has not wanted, does not guessWhat plenty is.--Who has not gropedIn depths of doubt and hopelessness,Has never truly hoped.--Unless, sometimes, a..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Feel In The Chris'Mas-Air

They's a kind o' _feel_ in the air, to me.When the Chris'mas-times sets in.That's about as much of a mysteryAs ever I've run ag'in!--Fer instunce..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Old Aunt Mary's

Wasn't it pleasant, O brother mine,In those old days of the lost sunshineOf youth-- when the Saturday's chores were through,And the 'Sunday's wood'..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Griggsby's Station

Pap's got his patent-right, and rich is all creation;But where's the peace and comfort that we all had before?Le's go a-visitin' back to Griggsby's..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Letter To A Friend

The past is like a storyI have listened to in dreamsThat vanished in the gloryOf the Morning's early gleams;And--at my shadow glancing--I feel a loss..

© James Whitcomb Riley

When My Dreams Come True

I.When my dreams come true--when my dreams come true--Shall I lean from out my casement, in the starlight and the dew,To listen--smile and listen to..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Summer Sunrise

AFTER LEE O. HARRISThe master-hand whose pencils traceThis wondrous landscape of the morn,Is but the sun, whose glowing faceReflects the rapture and..

© James Whitcomb Riley

When The Green Gits Back In The Trees

In spring, when the green gits back in the trees,And the sun comes out and stays,And yer boots pulls on with a good tight squeeze,And you think of..

© 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 spellThat ivory keys alone can tell;But..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Fruit Piece

The afternoon of summer foldsIts warm arms round the marigolds,And with its gleaming fingers, petsThe watered pinks and violetsThat from the casement..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Little-Girl-Two-Little-Girls

I'm twins, I guess, 'cause my Ma sayI'm two little girls. An' one o' meIs _Good_ little girl; an' th'other 'n' sheIs _Bad little girl as she can..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Man Of Many Parts

It was a man of many parts,Who in his coffer mindHad stored the Classics and the ArtsAnd Sciences combined;The purest gems of poesyCame flashing from..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Dost O' Blues

I' got no patience with blues at all!And I ust to kindo talkAginst 'em, and claim, 'tel along last Fall,They was none in the fambly stock;But a..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Canary At The Farm

Folks has be'n to town, and SahryFetched 'er home a pet canary--,And of all the blame', contrary,Aggervatin' things alive!I love music-- that I love..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Diverted Tragedy

Gracie wuz allus a _careless_ tot;But Gracie dearly loved her doll,An' played wiv it on the winder-sill'Way up-stairs, when she ought to _not_,An'..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Home-Made Fairy Tale

Bud, come here to your uncle a spell,And I'll tell you something you mustn't tell--For it's a secret and shore-'nuf true,And maybe I oughtn't to tell..

© James Whitcomb Riley

An Old Sweetheart Of Mine

As one who cons at evening o'er an album all alone,And muses on the faces of the friends that he has known,So I turn the leaves of Fancy, till in..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Glimpse Of Pan

I caught but a glimpse of him. Summer was here.And I strayed from the town and its dust and heat.And walked in a wood, while the noon was near,Where..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Gustatory Achievement

Last Thanksgivin'-dinner weEt at Granny's house, an' sheHad--ist like she alluz does--Most an' best pies ever wuz.Canned _black_ burry-pie an'..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Discouraging Model

Just the airiest, fairiest slip of a thing,With a Gainsborough hat, like a butterfly's wing,Tilted up at one side with the jauntiest air,And a knot..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Ditty Of No Tone

_Piped to the Spirit of John Keats._I.Would that my lips might pour out in thy praiseA fitting melody--an air sublime,--A song sun-washed and draped..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Bear Family

Wunst, 'way West in Illinoise,Wuz two Bears an' their two boys:An' the two boys' names, you know,Wuz--like _ours_ is,--Jim an' Jo;An' their..

© James Whitcomb Riley