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").

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

The Iron Horse

No song is mine of Arab steed--My courser is of nobler blood,And cleaner limb and fleeter speed,And greater strength and hardihoodThan ever cantered..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Old Retired Sea Captain

The old sea captain has sailed the seasSo long, that the waves at mirth,Or the waves gone wild, and the crests of these,Were as near playmates from..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Home-Going

We must get home--for we have been awaySo long it seems forever and a day!And O so very homesick we have grown,The laughter of the world is like a..

© James Whitcomb Riley

We Must Get Home

We must get home! How could we stray like this?--So far from home, we know not where it is,--Only in some fair, apple-blossomy placeOf children's..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Thanksgiving

Let us be thankful--not only becauseSince last our universal thanks were toldWe have grown greater in the world's applause,And fortune's newer smiles..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Nine Little Goblins

They all climbed up on a high board-fence--Nine little Goblins, with green-glass eyes--Nine little Goblins that had no sense,And couldn't tell..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Funny Little Fellow

'Twas a Funny Little FellowOf the very purest type,For he had a heart as mellowAs an apple over ripe;And the brightest little twinkleWhen a funny..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Rival

I so loved once, when Death came by I hid Away my face,And all my sweetheart's tresses she undid To make my hiding-place.The dread shade passed..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The King

They rode right out of the morning sun--A glimmering, glittering cavalcadeOf knights and ladies and every oneIn princely sheen arrayed;And the king..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Rapture Of The Year

While skies glint bright with bluest lightThrough clouds that race o'er fields and town,And leaves go dancing left and right,And orchard apples..

© James Whitcomb Riley

In Bohemia

Ha! My dear! I'm back again--Vendor of Bohemia's wares!Lordy! How it pants a manClimbing up those awful stairs!Well, I've made the dealer sayYour..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Willow

Who shall sing a simple ditty about the Willow,Dainty-fine and delicate as any bending sprayThat dandles high the dainty bird that flutters there to..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Song Of Yesterday

IBut yesterdayI looked awayO'er happy lands, where sunshine layIn golden blots,Inlaid with spotsOf shade and wild forget-me-nots.My head was fairWith..

© James Whitcomb Riley

We To Sigh Instead Of Sing

"Rain and Rain! and rain and rain!"Yesterday we mutteredGrimly as the grim refrainThat the thunders uttered:All the heavens under cloud --All the..

© James Whitcomb Riley