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").
The Old Times Were The Best
Friends, my heart is half awearyOf its happiness to-night:Though your songs are gay and cheery,And your spirits feather-light,There's a ghostly music..
© James Whitcomb Riley
My Mary
My Mary, O my Mary!The simmer-skies are blue;The dawnin' brings the dazzle,An' the gloamin' brings the dew,--The mirk o' nicht the gloryO' the moon..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Marthy Ellen
They's nothin' in the name to strikeA feller more'n common like!'Taint liable to git no praiseNer nothin' like it nowadays;An' yit that name o' her'n..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Moon-Drowned
'Twas the height of the fete when we quitted the riot,And quietly stole to the terrace alone,Where, pale as the lovers that ever swear by it,The moon..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Spring Song And A Later
She sang a song of May for me,Wherein once more I heardThe mirth of my glad infancy--The orchard's earliest bird--The joyous breeze among the..
© James Whitcomb Riley
An Old Year's Address
'I have twankled the strings of the twinkering rain;I have burnished the meteor's mail;I have bridled the windWhen he whinnied and whinedWith a bunch..
© James Whitcomb Riley
How It Happened
I got to thinkin' of her--both her parents dead and gone--And all her sisters married off, and none but her and JohnA-livin' all alone there in that..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Home At Night
When chirping crickets fainter cry,And pale stars blossom in the sky,And twilight's gloom has dimmed the bloomAnd blurred the butterfly:When..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Intellectual Limitations
Parunts knows lots more than us,But they don't know _all_ things,--'Cause we ketch 'em, lots o' times,Even on little small things.One time Winnie..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Mr. Hammond's Parable--The Dreamer
IHe was a Dreamer of the Days:Indolent as a lazy breezeOf midsummer, in idlest waysLolling about in the shade of trees.The farmer turned--as he..
© James Whitcomb Riley
At Crown Hill
Leave him here in the freshgreening grasses and treesAnd the symbols of love, and the solace of these-The saintly white lilies and blossoms he..
© James Whitcomb Riley
My Jolly Friend's Secret
Ah, friend of mine, how goes it,Since you've taken you a mate?--Your smile, though, plainly shows itIs a very happy state!Dan Cupid's necromancy!You..
© James Whitcomb Riley
My Friend
'He is my friend,' I said,--'Be patient!' OverheadThe skies were drear and dim;And lo! the thought of himSmited on my heart--and thenThe sun shone..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Southern Singer
Written In Madison Caweln's 'Lyrics and Idyls.'Herein are blown from out the SouthSongs blithe as those of Pan's pursed mouth--As sweet in voice as..
© James Whitcomb Riley
It's_Got_To Be
'When it's _got_ to be,'--like! always say,As I notice the years whiz past,And know each day is a yesterday,When we size it up, at last,--Same as I..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Iry And Billy Jo
Iry an' Billy an' Jo!--Iry an' Billy's _the boys_,An' _Jo's_ their _dog_, you know,--Their pictures took all in a row.Bet they kin kick up a..
© James Whitcomb Riley
My Dancin'-Days Is Over
What is it in old fiddle-chunes 'at makes me ketch my breathAnd ripples up my backbone tel I'm tickled most to death?--Kindo' like that sweet-sick..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Out Of The Hitherwhere
Out of the hitherwhere into the Yon--The land that the Lord's love rests upon;Where one may rely on the friends he meets,And the smiles that greet..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Hik-Tee-Dik!
THE WAR-CRY OF BILLY AND BUDDYWhen two little boys--renowned but for noise--Hik-tee-dik! Billy and Buddy!--May hurt a whole school, and the head it..
© James Whitcomb Riley
A Voice From The Farm
It is my dream to have you here with me,Out of the heated city's dust and din--Here where the colts have room to gambol in,And kine to graze, in..
© James Whitcomb Riley
How John Quit The Farm
Nobody on the old farm here but Mother, me and John,Except, of course, the extry he'p when harvest-time come on--And then, I want to say to you, we..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Illileo
Illileo, the moonlight seemed lost across the vales--The stars but strewed the azure as an armor's scattered scales;The airs of night were quiet as..
© James Whitcomb Riley
His Vigil
Close the book and dim the light,I shall read no more to-night.No--I am not sleepy, dear--Do not go: sit by me hereIn the darkness and the..
© James Whitcomb Riley
An Empty Nest
I find an old deserted nest,Half-hidden in the underbrush:A withered leaf, in phantom jest,Has nestled in it like a thrushWith weary, palpitating..
© James Whitcomb Riley
Igo And Ago
We're The Twins from Aunt Marinn's,Igo and Ago.When Dad comes, the show begins!--Iram, coram, dago.Dad he says he named us twoIgo and AgoFor a poem..
© James Whitcomb Riley