James Whitcomb Riley Poems

Last Thanksgivin'-dinner we
Et at Granny's house, an' she

Had--ist like she alluz does--
...

I caught but a glimpse of him. Summer was here.
And I strayed from the town and its dust and heat.
And walked in a wood, while the noon was near,
...

Settin' round the stove, last night,
Down at Wess's store, was me
And Mart Strimples, Tunk, and White,
...

As one who cons at evening o'er an album all alone,
And muses on the faces of the friends that he has known,
...

Bud, come here to your uncle a spell,
And I'll tell you something you mustn't tell--
For it's a secret and shore-'nuf true,
...

Gracie wuz allus a _careless_ tot;
But Gracie dearly loved her doll,
An' played wiv it on the winder-sill
...

Folks has be'n to town, and Sahry
Fetched 'er home a pet canary--,
And of all the blame', contrary,
Aggervatin' things alive!
...

I' got no patience with blues at all!
And I ust to kindo talk
Aginst 'em, and claim, 'tel along last Fall,
They was none in the fambly stock;
...

It was a man of many parts,
Who in his coffer mind
Had stored the Classics and the Arts
And Sciences combined;
...

The afternoon of summer folds
Its warm arms round the marigolds,
...