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").

Uncle Mart's Poem

THE OLD SNOW-MANHo! the old Snow-ManThat Noey Bixler made!He looked as fierce and sassyAs a soldier on parade!--'Cause Noey, when he made him,While..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Tugg Martin

I.Tugg Martin's tough.--No doubt o' that!And down there atThe town he come from word's bin sentAdvisin' this-here Settle-mentTo kindo' _humor_ Tugg..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Tom Van Arden

Tom Van Arden, my old friend,Our warm fellowship is oneFar too old to comprehendWhere its bond was first begun:Mirage-like before my gazeGleams a..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Tom Johnson's Quit

A passel o' the boys last night--An' me amongst 'em--kindo gotTo talkin' Temper'nce left an' right,An' workin' up 'blue-ribbon,' _hot_;An' while we..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Told By

Coming, clean from the Maryland-endOf this great National Road of ours,Through your vast West; with the time to spend,Stopping for days in the main..

© James Whitcomb Riley

To The Serenader

Tinkle on, O sweet guitar,Let the dancing fingersLoiter where the low notes areBlended with the singer's:Let the midnight pour the moon'sMellow wine..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Wash Lowry's Reminiscence

And you're the poet of this concern?I've seed your name in printA dozen times, but I'll be dernI'd 'a' never 'a' took the hintO' the size you..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Want To Be Whur Mother Is

'Want to be whur mother is! Want to be whur mother is!'Jeemses Rivers! won't some one ever shet that howl o' his?That-air yellin' drives me..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Waitin' Fer The Cat To Die

Lawzy! don't I rickollectThat-'air old swing in the lane!Right and proper, I expect,Old times _can't_ come back again;But I want to state, ef..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Their Sweet Sorrow

They meet to say farewell: Their wayOf saying this is hard to say--.He holds her hand an Instant, whollyDistressed-- and she unclasps it slowly,He..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Wife-Blessed

I.In youth he wrought, with eyes ablur,Lorn-faced and long of hair--In youth--in youth he painted herA sister of the air--Could clasp her not, but..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Way It Wuz

Las' July--an', I persume'Bout as hotAs the ole Gran'-Jury roomWhere they sot!--Fight 'twixt Mike an' Dock McGriff--'Pears to me jes' like as ifI'd a..

© James Whitcomb Riley

To My Good Master

In fancy, always, at thy desk, thrown wide,Thy most betreasured books ranged neighborly--The rarest rhymes of every land and seaAnd curious..

© James Whitcomb Riley

To An Importunate Ghost

Get gone, thou most uncomfortable ghost!Thou really dost annoy me with thy thinImpalpable transparency of grin;And the vague, shadowy shape of thee..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Time Of Clearer Twitterings

I.Time of crisp and tawny leaves,And of tarnished harvest sheaves,And of dusty grasses--weeds--Thistles, with their tufted seedsVoyaging the Autumn..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Time

1The ticking-- ticking-- ticking of the clock--!That vexed me so last night--! 'For though Time keepsSuch drowsy watch,' I moaned, 'he never..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Through Sleepy-Land

Where do you go when you go to sleep,Little Boy! Little Boy! where?'Way--'way in where's Little Bo-Peep,And Little Boy Blue, and the Cows and..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Three Dead Friends

Always suddenly they are gone--The friends we trusted and held secure--Suddenly we are gazing on,Not a _smiling_ face, but the marble-pureDead mask..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Thoughts Fer The Discuraged Farmer

The summer winds is sniffin' round the bloomin'locus' trees;And the clover in the pastur is a big day fer the bees,And they been a-swiggin' honey..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Thomas The Pretender

Tommy's alluz playin' jokes,An' actin' up, an' foolin' folks;An' wunst one time he creepIn Pa's big chair, he did, one night,An' squint an' shut his..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Thinkin' Back

I've ben thinkin' back, of late,S'prisin'!--And I'm here to stateI'm suspicious it's a signOf _age_, maybe, or declineOf my faculties,--and yitI'm..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Them Flowers

Take a feller 'at's sick and laid up on the shelf,All shaky, and ga'nted, and pore--Jes all so knocked out he can't handle hisselfWith a stiff..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Train Misser

At Union Station'Ll where in the world my eyes has bin--Ef I hain't missed that train ag'in!Chuff! And whistle! And toot! And ring!But blast and..

© James Whitcomb Riley

The Rose

It tossed its head at the wooing breeze;And the sun, like a bashful swain,Beamed on it through the waving treesWith a passion all in vain,--For my..

© James Whitcomb Riley

To Hear Her Sing

To hear her sing--to hear her sing--It is to hear the birds of SpringIn dewy groves on blooming spraysPour out their blithest roundelays.It is to..

© James Whitcomb Riley