James Whitcomb Riley Poems

Even in such a scene of senseless play
The children were surprised one summer-day
By a strange man who called across the fence,
...

Sometimes I think 'at Parents does
Things ist about as bad as _us_--
...

Barefooted boys scud up the street
Or skurry under sheltering sheds;
And schoolgirl faces, pale and sweet,
...

O soul of mine, look out and see
My bride, my bride that is to be!
Reach out with mad, impatient hands,
And draw aside futurity
...

'He shall sleep unscathed of thieves
Who loves Allah and believes.'
Thus heard one who shared the tent,
...

The maple strews the embers of its leaves
O'er the laggard swallows nestled 'neath the eaves;
...

Just drifting on together--
He and I--
As through the balmy weather
Of July
...

Let us forget. What matters it that we
Once reigned o'er happy realms of long-ago,
And talked of love, and let our voices low,
...

There's a space for good to bloom in
Every heart of man or woman,--
And however wild or human,
Or however brimmed with gall,
...

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,
...