James Whitcomb Riley Poems

A monument for the Soldiers!
And what will ye build it of?
Can ye build it of marble, or brass, or bronze,
Outlasting the Soldiers' love?
...

Ah, help me! but her face and brow
Are lovelier than lilies are
Beneath the light of moon and star
That smile as they are smiling now-
...

If I knew what poets know,
Would I write a rhyme
Of the buds that never blow
In the summer-time?
...

Our Land-- our Home-- the common home indeed
Of soil-born children and adopted ones--
The stately daughters and the stalwart sons
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A thing 'at's 'bout as tryin' as a healthy man kin meet
Is some poor feller's funeral a-joggin' 'long the street:
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The beauty of her hair bewilders me-
Pouring adown the brow, its cloven tide
Swirling about the ears on either side
...

How many of my selves are dead?
The ghosts of many haunt me: Lo,
The baby in the tiny bed
With rockers on, is blanketed
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Ho! green fields and running brooks!
Knotted strings and fishing-hooks
Of the truant, stealing down
Weedy backways of the town.
...

Donn Piatt--of Mac-o-chee,--
Not the one of History,
Who, with flaming tongue and pen,
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Old October's purt' nigh gone,
And the frosts is comin' on
Little heavier every day--
Like our hearts is thataway!
...