Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Say Something To Me

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 song
Over th…

272
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

September Dark

September Dark

1
The air falls chill;
The whippoorwill
Pipes lonesomely behind the Hill:
The dusk grows dense,
The silenc…

249
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Regardin' Terry Hut

Regardin' Terry Hut

Sence I tuk holt o' Gibbses' Churn
And be'n a-handlin' the concern,
I've travelled round the grand old State
Of India…

276
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Robert Burns Wilson

Robert Burns Wilson

What intuition named thee?--Through what thrill
Of the awed soul came the command divine
Into the mother-heart, foretelling t…

353
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Reach Your Hand To Me

Reach Your Hand To Me

Reach your hand to me, my friend,
With its heartiest caress--
Sometime there will come an end
To its present faithfu…

343
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Private Theatricals

Private Theatricals

A quite convincing axiom
Is, 'Life is like a play';
For, turning back its pages some
Few dog-eared years away,

280
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Philiper Flash

Philiper Flash

Young Philiper Flash was a promising lad,
His intentions were good--but oh, how sad
For a person to think
How the veriest …

294
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Plain Sermons

Plain Sermons

I saw a man--and envied him beside--
Because of this world's goods he had great store;
But even as I envied him, he died,
An…

330
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Over The Eyes Of Gladness

Over The Eyes Of Gladness

'The voice of One hath spoken,
And the bended reed is bruised--
The golden bowl is broken,
And the silver cord i…

295
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Out Of Nazareth

Out Of Nazareth

'He shall sleep unscathed of thieves
Who loves Allah and believes.'
Thus heard one who shared the tent,
In the far-off Or…

254
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Our Hired Girl

Our Hired Girl

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11
12
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Our hired girl, she's …

314
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Our Little Girl

Our Little Girl

Her heart knew naught of sorrow,
Nor the vaguest taint of sin-'
Twas an ever-blooming blossom
Of the purity within:

299
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Orlie Wilde

Orlie Wilde

A goddess, with a siren's grace,--
A sun-haired girl on a craggy place
Above a bay where fish-boats lay
Drifting about like bi…

235
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

On The Sunny Side

On The Sunny Side

Hi and whoop-hooray, boys!
Sing a song of cheer!
Here's a holiday, boys,
Lasting half a year!
Round the world, …

299
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Old Winters On The Farm

Old Winters On The Farm

I have jest about decided
It 'ud keep a _town-boy_ hoppin'
Fer to work all winter, choppin'
Fer a' old fire-place…

321
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Old Man's Nursery Rhyme

Old Man's Nursery Rhyme

I.
In the jolly winters
Of the long-ago,
It was not so cold as now--
O! No! No!
Then, as I remembe…

331
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Old Fashioned Roses

Old Fashioned Roses

They ain't no style about 'em,
And they're sorto' pale and faded,
Yit the doorway here, without 'em,
Would be lonesom…

298
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Nothin' To Say

Nothin' To Say

Nothin' to say, my daughter! Nothin' at all to say!
Gyrls that's in love, I've noticed, ginerly has their way!
Yer mother did, afo…

314
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Noey's Night-Piece

Noey's Night-Piece

'They ain't much 'tale' about it!' Noey said.-'
K'tawby grapes wuz gittin' good-n-red
I rickollect; and Tubb Kingry and me

267
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

No Boy Knows

No Boy Knows

There are many things that boys may know--
Why this and that are thus and so,--
Who made the world in the dark and lit
The gre…

299
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Naughty Claude

Naughty Claude

When Little Claude was naughty wunst
At dinner-time, an' said
He won't say '_Thank you_' to his Ma,
She maked him go to be…

299
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

Mylo Jones's Wife

Mylo Jones's Wife

'Mylo Jones's wife' was all
I heerd, mighty near, last Fall--
Visitun relations down
T'other side of Morgantown!

303
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

My Jolly Friend's Secret

My Jolly Friend's Secret

Ah, friend of mine, how goes it,
Since you've taken you a mate?--
Your smile, though, plainly shows it
Is a very …

317
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley

My Father's Halls

My Father's Halls

My father's halls, so rich and rare,
Are desolate and bleak and bare;
My father's heart and halls are one,
Since I, the…

220