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").

John Brown

Writ in between the lines of his life-deedWe trace the sacred service of a heartAnswering the Divine command, in every partBearing on human weal: His..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Lines For An Album

I would not trace the hackneyed phraseOf shallow words and empty praise,And prate of 'peace' till one might thinkMy foolish pen was drunk with..

© James Whitcomb Riley

An Old Friend

Hey, Old Midsummer! are you here again,With all your harvest-store of olden joys,--Vast overhanging meadow-lands of rain,And drowsy dawns, and noons..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Prospective Visit

While _any_ day was notable and dearThat gave the children Noey, history hereRecords his advent emphasized indeedWith sharp italics, as he came to..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Old Fashioned Roses

They ain't no style about 'em,And they're sorto' pale and faded,Yit the doorway here, without 'em,Would be lonesomer, and shadedWith a good 'eal..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Morton

The warm pulse of the nation has grown chill;The muffled heart of Freedom, like a knell,Throbs solemnly for one whose earthly willWrought every..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Dead Leaves

DAWNAs though a gipsy maiden with dim look,Sat crooning by the roadside of the year,So, Autumn, in thy strangeness, thou art hereTo read dark..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Dead In Sight Of Fame

DIED--Early morning of September 5, 1876, andin the gleaming dawn of 'name and fame,'Hamilton J. Dunbar.Dead! Dead! Dead!We thought him ours..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Babyhood

Heigh-ho! Babyhood! Tell me where you linger:Let's toddle home again, for we have gone astray;Take this eager hand of mine and lead me by the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Gratefully And Affectionately Inscribed To Joel Chandler Harris

_You who to the rounded prime__Of a life of toil and stress_,_Still have kept the morning-time__Of glad youth in heart and spirit_,_So your laugh, as..

© James Whitcomb Riley

From The Headboard Of A Grave In Paraguay

A troth, and a grief, and a blessing,Disguised them and came this way--,And one was a promise, and one was a doubt,And one was a rainy day.And they..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Little Jack Janitor

And there, in that ripe Summer-night, once moreA wintry coolness through the open doorAnd window seemed to touch each glowing faceRefreshingly; and..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Where Shall We Land

'_Where shall we land you, sweet_?'--Swinburne.All listlessly we floatOut seaward in the boatThat beareth Love.Our sails of purest snowBend to the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

When June Is Here

When June is here--what art have we to singThe whiteness of the lilies midst the greenOf noon-tranced lawns? Or flash of roses seenLike redbirds'..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Extremes

IA little boy once played so loudThat the Thunder, up in a thunder-cloud,Said, 'Since I can't be heard, why, thenI'll never, never thunder..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Grant At Rest-- August 8, 1885

Sir Launcelot rode overthwart and endlong in a wide forest, and held nopath but as wild adventure led him... And he returned and came again to..

© James Whitcomb Riley

His Room

'I'm home again, my dear old Room,I'm home again, and happy, too,As, peering through the brightening gloom,I find myself alone with you:Though brief..

© James Whitcomb Riley

A Song Of Long Ago

A song of Long Ago:Sing it lightly--sing it low--Sing it softly--like the lisping of the lips we used to knowWhen our baby-laughter spilledFrom the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Natural Perversities

I am not prone to moralizeIn scientific doubtOn certain facts that Nature triesTo puzzle us about,--For I am no philosopherOf wise elucidation,But..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Craqueodoom

The Crankadox leaned o'er the edge of the moonAnd wistfully gazed on the seaWhere the Gryxabodill madly whistled a tuneTo the air of..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Kissing The Rod

O heart of mine, we shouldn'tWorry so!What we've missed of calm we couldn'tHave, you know!What we've met of stormy pain,And of sorrow's driving..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Dream-March

'Wasn't it a funny dream!--perfectly bewild'rin'!--Last night, and night before, and night before that,Seemed like I saw the march o' regiments o'..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Dawn, Noon And Dewfall

I.Dawn, noon and dewfall! Bluebird and robinUp and at it airly, and the orchard-blossoms bobbin'!Peekin' from the winder, half-awake, and wishin'I..

© James Whitcomb Riley

An Impetuous Resolve

When little Dickie Swope's a man,He's go' to be a Sailor;An' little Hamey Tincher, he'sA-go' to be a Tailor:Bud Mitchell, he's a-go' to beA stylish..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Jim

He was jes a plain ever'-day, all-round kind of a jour.,Consumpted-Iookin'-- but la!The jokeiest, wittiest, story-tellin', song-singin', laughin'est..

© James Whitcomb Riley