James Whitcomb Riley Poems

I.

When old Jack died, we staid from school (they said,
At home, we needn't go that day), and none
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Of the wealth of facts and fancies
That our memories may recall,
The old school-day romances
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A was an elegant Ape
Who tied up his ears with red tape,
And wore a long veil
Half revealing his tail
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Dexery-tethery! down in the dike,
Under the ooze and the slime,
Nestles the wraith of a reticent Gryke,
Blubbering bubbles of rhyme:
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I am tired of this!
Nothing else but loving!
Nothing else but kiss and kiss,
Coo, and turtle-doving!
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'Mylo Jones's wife' was all
I heerd, mighty near, last Fall--
Visitun relations down
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If from your own the dimpled hands had slipped,
And ne'er would nestle in your palm again;
If the white feet into the grave had tripped--'
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The ripest peach is highest on the tree --
And so her love, beyond the reach of me,
Is dearest in my sight. Sweet breezes, bow
Her heart down to me where I worship now!
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They called him Mr. What's-his-name:
From where he was, or why he came,
Or when, or what he found to do,
Nobody in the city knew.
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Sing! gangling lad, along the brink
Of wild brook-ways of shoal and deep,
Where killdees dip, and cattle drink,
And glinting little minnows leap!
...