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").

The Rival

I so loved once, when Death came by I hid Away my face,And all my sweetheart's tresses she undid To make my hiding-place.The dread shade passed..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The King

They rode right out of the morning sun--A glimmering, glittering cavalcadeOf knights and ladies and every oneIn princely sheen arrayed;And the king..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Rapture Of The Year

While skies glint bright with bluest lightThrough clouds that race o'er fields and town,And leaves go dancing left and right,And orchard apples..

© James Whitcomb Riley

In Bohemia

Ha! My dear! I'm back again--Vendor of Bohemia's wares!Lordy! How it pants a manClimbing up those awful stairs!Well, I've made the dealer sayYour..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Willow

Who shall sing a simple ditty about the Willow,Dainty-fine and delicate as any bending sprayThat dandles high the dainty bird that flutters there to..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Song Of Yesterday

IBut yesterdayI looked awayO'er happy lands, where sunshine layIn golden blots,Inlaid with spotsOf shade and wild forget-me-nots.My head was fairWith..

© James Whitcomb Riley

We To Sigh Instead Of Sing

"Rain and Rain! and rain and rain!"Yesterday we mutteredGrimly as the grim refrainThat the thunders uttered:All the heavens under cloud --All the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

To A Boy Whistling

The smiling face of a happy boyWith its enchanted keyIs now unlocking in memoryMy store of heartiest joy.And my lost life again to-day,In pleasant..

© James Whitcomb Riley

There Was A Cherry-Tree

There was a cherry-tree. Its bloomy snowsCool even now the fevered sight that knowsNo more its airy visions of pure joy --As when you were a..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Little Dick And The Clock

When Dicky was sickIn the night, and the clock,As he listened, said 'Tick-Atty--tick-atty--tock!'He said that _it_ said,Every time it said 'Tick,'It..

© James Whitcomb Riley

In Fervent Praise Of Picnics

Picnics is fun 'at's purty hard to beat.I purt'-nigh ruther go to them than _eat_.I purt'-nigh ruther go to them than goWith our Char_lot_ty to the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Herr Weiser

Herr Weiser--! Three-score-years-and-ten--,A hale white rose of his country-men,Transplanted here in the Hoosier loam,And blossomy as his German..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Her Waiting Face

In some strange placeOf long-lost lands he finds her waiting face--Comes marveling upon it, unaware,Set moonwise in the midnight of her hair.

© James Whitcomb Riley

Floretty's Musical Contribution

All seemed delighted, though the elders more,Of course, than were the children.--Thus, beforeMuch interchange of mirthful compliment,The story-teller..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Farmer Whipple--Bachelor

It's a mystery to see me--a man o' fifty-four,Who's lived a cross old bachelor fer thirty year' and more--A-lookin' glad and smilin'! And they's none..

© James Whitcomb Riley

His Mother

DEAD! my wayward boy--_my own_--Not _the Law's!_ but _mine_--the goodGod's free gift to me alone,Sanctified by motherhood.'Bad,' you say: Well, who..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Last Night-- And This

Last night-- how deep the darkness was!And well I knew its depths, becauseI waded it from shore to shore,Thinking to reach the light no more.She..

© James Whitcomb Riley

George Mullen's Confession

For the sake of guilty conscience, and the heart that ticks thetimeOf the clockworks of my nature, I desire to say that I'mA weak and sinful..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Find The Favorite

Our three cats is Maltese cats,An' they's two that's white,--An' bofe of 'em's _deef_--an' that's'Cause their _eyes_ ain't right.--Uncle say that..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Job Work

'Write me a rhyme of the present time'.And the poet took his penAnd wrote such lines as the miser mindsHide in the hearts of men.He grew enthused, as..

© James Whitcomb Riley

By Her White Bed

By her white bed I muse a little space:She fell asleep--not very long ago,--And yet the grass was here and not the snow--The leaf, the bud, the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Bryant

The harp has fallen from the master's hand;Mute is the music, voiceless are the strings,Save such faint discord as the wild wind flingsIn sad aeolian..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Billy And His Drum

Ho! it's come, kids, come!'With a bim! bam! bum!Here's little Billy bangin' on his big bass drum!He's a-marchin' round the room,With his..

© James Whitcomb Riley

At Noon--And Midnight

Far in the night, and yet no rest for him! The pillow next his ownThe wife's sweet face in slumber pressed--yet he awake--alone!alone!In vain he..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Merman

IWho would beA merman gay,Singing alone,Sitting alone,With a mermaid's knee,For instance--hey--For a throne?III would be a merman gay;I would sit and..

© James Whitcomb Riley