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").

Red Riding-Hood

Sweet little myth of the nursery story--Earliest love of mine infantile breast,Be something tangible, bloom in thy gloryInto existence, as thou art..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Rain

I.The rain! the rain! the rain!It gushed from the skies and streamedLike awful tears; and the sick man thoughtHow pitiful it seemed!And he turned his..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Pixy People

It was just a veryMerry fairy dream!--All the woods were airyWith the gloom and gleam;Crickets in the cloverClattered clear and strong,And the bees..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Old Trundle-Bed

O the old trundle-bed where I slept when a boy!What canopied king might not covet the joy?The glory and peace of that slumber of mine,Like a long..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Sphinx

I know all about the Sphinx--I know even what she thinks,Staring with her stony eyesUp forever at the skies.For last night I dreamed that sheTold me..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Lost Kiss

I put by the half-written poem,While the pen, idly trailed in my hand,Writes on--, 'Had I words to complete it,Who'd read it, or who'd..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Lugubrious Whing-Whang

The rhyme o' The Raggedy Man's 'at's bestIs Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs,--'Cause that-un's the strangest of all o' the rest,An' the worst..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Days Gone By

O the days gone by! O the days gone by!The apples in the orchard, and the pathway through the rye;The chirrup of the robin, and the whistle of the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Happy Little Cripple

I'm thist a little cripple boy, an' never goin' to growAn' get a great big man at all!--'cause Aunty told me so.When I was thist a baby onc't, I..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Old Home By The Mill

This is 'The old Home by the Mill'--far we still call it so,Although the old mill, roof and sill, is all gone long ago.The old home, though, and old..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Runaway Boy

Wunst I sassed my Pa, an' heWon't stand that, an' punished me,--Nen when he was gone that day,I slipped out an' runned away.I tooked all my..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Circus-Day Parade

Oh, the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played!And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes, and neighed,As the rattle and the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Blossoms On The Trees

Blossoms crimson, white, or blue,Purple, pink, and every hue,From sunny skies, to tintings drownedIn dusky drops of dew,I praise you all, wherever..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Up And Down Old Brandywine

Up and down old Brandywine,In the days 'at's past and gone--With a dad-burn hook-and lineAnd a saplin' pole--swawn!I've had more fun, to the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

To Robert Burns

Sweet Singer that I loe the maistO' ony, sin' wi' eager hasteI smacket bairn-lips ower the tasteO' hinnied sang,I hail thee, though a blessed..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Squire Hawkins's Story

I hain't no hand at tellin' tales,Er spinnin' yarns, as the sailors say;Someway o' 'nother, language failsTo slide fer me in the oily wayThat LAWYERS..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Treasure Of The Wise Man

O the night was dark and the night was late,And the robbers came to rob him;And they picked the locks of his palace-gate,The robbers that came to rob..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Lost Thrill

I grow so weary, someway, of all thingsThat love and loving have vouchsafed to me,Since now all dreamed-of sweets of ecstasyAm I possessed of: The..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Little Fat Doctor

He seemed so strange to me, every way--In manner, and form, and size,From the boy I knew but yesterday,--I could hardly believe my eyes!To hear his..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Legend Glorified

'I deem that God is not disquieted'--This in a mighty poet's rhymes I read;And blazoned so forever doth abideWithin my soul the legend..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Old Hay-Mow

The Old Hay-mow's the place to playFer boys, when it's a rainy day!I good-'eal ruther be up thereThan down in town, er anywhere!When I play in our..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Good, Old-Fashioned People

When we hear Uncle Sidney tellAbout the long-agoAn' old, old friends he loved so wellWhen _he_ was young--My-oh!--Us childern all wish _we'd 'a'_..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Say Something To Me

Say something to me! I've waited so long--Waited and wondered in vain;Only a sentence would fall like a songOver this listening pain--Over a silence..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Brook-Song

Little brook! Little brook!You have such a happy look--Such a very merry manner, as you swerve andcurve and crook--And your ripples, one and..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Song Of Parting

Say farewell, and let me go;Shatter every vow!All the future can bestowWill be welcome now!And if this fair hand I touchI have worshipped overmuch,It..

© James Whitcomb Riley