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").
A Brave Refrain
When snow is here, and the trees look weird,And the knuckled twigs are gloved with frost;When the breath congeals in the drover's beard,And the old..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Full Harvest
Seems like a feller'd ort 'o jes' to-dayGit down and roll and waller, don't you know,In that-air stubble, and flop up and crow,Seein' sich craps!..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Worn-Out Pencil
Welladay!Here I layYou at rest--all worn away,O my pencil, to the tipOf our old companionship!MemorySighs to seeWhat you are, and used to be,Looking..
© James Whitcomb Riley
The Old Swimmin' Hole
Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! whare the crick so still and deepLooked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,And the gurgle of the worter round..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Lounger Rating: ★2.8
He leant against a lamp-post, lostIn some mysterious reverie:His head was bowed; his arms were crossed;He yawned, and glanced evasively:Uncrossed his..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Curly Locks
_Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine?Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine,--But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,And..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Ballad
With A Serious ConclusionCrowd about me, little children--Come and cluster 'round my kneeWhile I tell a little storyThat happened once with me.My..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Where-Away
O the Lands of Where-Away!Tell us--tell us--where are they?Through the darkness and the dawnWe have journeyed on and on--From the cradle to the..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Bride
'O I am weary!' she sighed, as her billowyHair she unloosed in a torrent of goldThat rippled and fell o'er a figure as willowy,Graceful and fair as a..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Dream Of Autumn
Mellow hazes, lowly trailingOver wood and meadow, veilingSomber skies, with wildfowl sailingSailor-like to foreign lands;And the north-wind..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Leave-Taking
She will not smile;She will not stir;I marvel whileI look on her.The lips are chillyAnd will not speak;The ghost of a lilyIn either cheek.Her..
© James Whitcomb Riley
The Harper
Like a drift of faded blossomsCaught in a slanting rain,His fingers glimpsed down the strings of his harpIn a tremulous refrain:Patter and tinkle..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Christmas Memory
Pa he bringed me here to stay'Til my Ma she's well.--An' nenHe's go' hitch up, Chris'mus-day,An' come take me back againWher' my Ma's at! Won't I..
© James Whitcomb Riley
The Old Guitar
Neglected now is the old guitarAnd moldering into decay;Fretted with many a rift and scarThat the dull dust hides away,While the spider spins a..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Ylladmar
Her hair was, oh, so dense a blurOf darkness, midnight envied her;And stars grew dimmer in the skiesTo see the glory of her eyes;And all the summer..
© James Whitcomb Riley
At Broad Ripple
Oh luxury! Beyond the heatAnd dust of town, with dangling feetAstride the rock below the dam,In the cool shadows where the calmRests on the stream..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Orlie Wilde
A goddess, with a siren's grace,--A sun-haired girl on a craggy placeAbove a bay where fish-boats layDrifting about like birds of prey.Wrought was..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Fantasy
A fantasy that came to meAs wild and wantonly designedAs ever any dream might beUnraveled from a madman's mind,--A tangle-work of tissue, wroughtBy..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Who Bides His Time
Who bides his time, and day by dayFaces defeat full patiently,And lifts a mirthful roundelay,However poor his fortunes be,--He will not fail in any..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Song Of The New Year
I heard the bells at midnightRing in the dawning year;And above the clanging chorusOf the song, I seemed to hearA choir of mystic voicesFlinging..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Ike Walton's Prayer
I crave, dear Lord,No boundless hoardOf gold and gear,Nor jewels fine,Nor lands, nor kine,Nor treasure-heaps of anything.-Let but a little hut be..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Dream
I dreamed I was a spider;A big, fat, hungry spider;A lusty, rusty spiderWith a dozen palsied limbs;With a dozen limbs that dangledWhere three..
© James Whitcomb Riley
The Raggedy Man
1 O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;2 An' he's the goodest man ever you saw!3 He comes to our house every day,4 An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Her Beautiful Eyes
O her beautiful eyes! they are as blue as the dewOn the violet's bloom when the morning is new,And the light of their love is the gleam of the..
© 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..
© James Whitcomb Riley