Author: James Whitcomb Riley

INSCRIBED WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION To all the little children: The happy ones; and sad ones; The sober and […]

Our hired girl, she’s ‘Lizabuth Ann; An’ she can cook best things to eat! She ist puts dough in our […]

O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa; An’ he’s the goodest man ever you saw! He comes to our […]

I crave, dear Lord, No boundless hoard Of gold and gear, Nor jewels fine, Nor lands, nor kine, Nor treasure-heaps […]

Oh luxury! Beyond the heat And dust of town, with dangling feet Astride the rock below the dam, In the […]

I Who would be A merman gay, Singing alone, Sitting alone, With a mermaid’s knee, For instance hey For a […]

A goddess, with a siren’s grace, A sun-haired girl on a craggy place Above a bay where fish-boats lay Drifting […]

The ripest peach is highest on the tree And so her love, beyond the reach of me, Is dearest in […]

I But yesterday I looked away O’er happy lands, where sunshine lay In golden blots, Inlaid with spots Of shade […]

“Rain and Rain! and rain and rain!” Yesterday we muttered Grimly as the grim refrain That the thunders uttered: All […]

Let us rest ourselves a bit! Worry? wave your hand to it Kiss your finger-tips and smile It farewell a […]

I ain’t a-goin’ to cry no more, no more! I’m got ear-ache, an’ Ma can’t make It quit a-tall; An’ […]

You better not fool with a Bumblebee! Ef you don’t think they can sting you’ll see! They’re lazy to look […]

Who shall sing a simple ditty about the Willow, Dainty-fine and delicate as any bending spray That dandles high the […]

A barefoot boy! I mark him at his play For May is here once more, and so is he, His […]

OH! the old swimmin’-hole! whare the crick so still and deep Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep, […]

Granny’s come to our house, And ho! my lawzy-daisy! All the childern round the place Is ist a-runnin’ crazy! Fetched […]

There! little girl; don’t cry! They have broken your doll, I know; And your tea-set blue, And your play-house, too, […]

THEY all climbed up on a high board-fence – Nine little Goblins, with green-glass eyes – Nine little Goblins that […]

Neglected now is the old guitar And moldering into decay; Fretted with many a rift and scar That the dull […]

The smiling face of a happy boy With its enchanted key Is now unlocking in memory My store of heartiest […]

Who bides his time, and day by day Faces defeat full patiently, And lifts a mirthful roundelay, However poor his […]

A deep, delicious hush in earth and sky A gracious lull since, from its wakening, The morn has been a […]

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock, And you hear the kyouck and gobble […]

Who has not wanted, does not guess What plenty is. Who has not groped In depths of doubt and hopelessness, […]

It hain’t no use to grumble and complane; It’s jest as cheap and easy to rejoice. When God sorts out […]

What delightful hosts are they Life and Love! Lingeringly I turn away, This late hour, yet glad enough They have […]

While skies glint bright with bluest light Through clouds that race o’er fields and town, And leaves go dancing left […]

Like a drift of faded blossoms Caught in a slanting rain, His fingers glimpsed down the strings of his harp […]

I woo’d a woman once, But she was sharper than an eastern wind. Tennyson “What may I do to make […]