Home ⇒ 📌James Whitcomb Riley ⇒ The Bumblebee
The Bumblebee
You better not fool with a Bumblebee!
Ef you don’t think they can sting you’ll see!
They’re lazy to look at, an’ kind o’ go
Buzzin’ an’ bummin’ aroun’ so slow,
An’ ac’ so slouchy an’ all fagged out,
Danglin’ their legs as they drone about
The hollyhawks ‘at they can’t climb in
‘Ithout ist a-tumble-un out ag’in!
Wunst I watched one climb clean ‘way
In a jimson-blossom, I did, one day,
An’ I ist grabbed it an’ nen let go
An’ “Ooh-ooh! Honey! I told ye so!”
Says The Raggedy Man; an’ he ist run
An’ pullt out the stinger, an’ don’t laugh none,
An’ says: “They has be’n folks, I guess,
‘At thought I wuz predjudust, more er less,
Yit I still muntain ‘at a Bumblebee
Wears out his welcome too quick fer me!”
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Related poetry:
- Head of a White Woman Winking She has one good bumblebee Which she leads about town On a leash of clover. It’s as big as a Saint Bernard But also extremely fragile. People want to pet its long, shaggy coat. These would be mostly whirling dervishes Out shopping for accessories. When Lily winks they understand everything, Right down to the particle […]...
- Whats The Use Of A Title? They dont make it The beautiful die in flame – Sucide pills, rat poison, rope what – Ever… They rip their arms off, Throw themselves out of windows, They pull their eyes out of the sockets, Reject love Reject hate Reject, reject. They do’nt make it The beautiful can’t endure, They are butterflies They are […]...
- Over the fence Over the fence Strawberries grow Over the fence I could climb if I tried, I know Berries are nice! But if I stained my Apron God would certainly scold! Oh, dear, I guess if He were a Boy He’d climb if He could!...
- He Wonders Whether to Praise or Blame Her I have peace to weigh your worth, now all is over, But if to praise or blame you, cannot say. For, who decries the loved, decries the lover; Yet what man lauds the thing he’s thrown away? Be you, in truth, this dull, slight, cloudy naught, The more fool I, so great a fool to […]...
- A Daughter Of Eve A fool I was to sleep at noon, And wake when night is chilly Beneath the comfortless cold moon; A fool to pluck my rose too soon, A fool to snap my lily. My garden-plot I have not kept; Faded and all-forsaken, I weep as I have never wept: Oh it was summer when I […]...
- Le Gout du Néant Morne esprit, autrefois amoureux de la lutte, L’Espoir, dont l’éperon attisait ton ardeur, Ne veut plus t’enfourcher! Couche-toi sans pudeur, Vieux cheval dont le pied à chaque obstacle bute. Résigne-toi, mon coeur; dors ton sommeil de brute. Esprit vaincu, fourbu! Pour toi, vieux maraudeur, L’amour n’a plus de gout, non plus que la dispute; Adieu […]...
- Old Bob I guess folks think I’m mighty dumb Since Jack and Jim and Joe Have hit the trail to Kingdom Come And left me here below: Since Death, the bastard, bowled them out, And left me faced with Doubt. My pals have all passed out on me And I am by my lone; Old Bill was […]...
- Cotton Song Come, brother, come. Lets lift it; Come now, hewit! roll away! Shackles fall upon the Judgment Day But lets not wait for it. God’s body’s got a soul, Bodies like to roll the soul, Cant blame God if we dont roll, Come, brother, roll, roll! Cotton bales are the fleecy way, Weary sinner’s bare feet […]...
- Jabed Meeker, Humorist Twain? Oh, yes, I’ve heard Mark Twain Heard him down to Pleasant Plain; Funny? Yes, I guess so. Folks Seemed to laugh loud at his jokes- Laughed to beat the band; but I Couldn’t rightly make out why. Guess his humor ain’t refined. Quite enough to suit my mind. Mark’s all right-right clever speaker- But […]...
- Some things that fly there be Some things that fly there be Birds Hours the Bumblebee Of these no Elegy. Some things that stay there be Grief Hills Eternity Nor this behooveth me. There are that resting, rise. Can I expound the skies? How still the Riddle lies!...
- Freethinker Although the Preacher be a bore, The Atheist is even more. I ain’t religious worth a damn; My views are reckoned to be broad; And yet I shut up like a clam When folks get figgerin’ on God; I’d hate my kids to think like me, And though they leave me in the lurch, I’m […]...
- Theme For English B The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you Then, it will be true. I wonder if it’s that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here To this college on the hill above Harlem. I am […]...
- The Grocery “Hullo, Alice!” “Hullo, Leon!” “Say, Alice, gi’ me a couple O’ them two for five cigars, Will yer?” “Where’s your nickel?” “My! Ain’t you close! Can’t trust a feller, can yer.” “Trust you! Why What you owe this store Would set you up in business. I can’t think why Father ‘lows it.” “Yer Father’s a […]...
- Risus Dei Methinks in Him there dwells alway A sea of laughter very deep, Where the leviathans leap, And little children play, Their white feet twinkling on its crisped edge; But in the outer bay The strong man drives the wedge Of polished limbs, And swims. Yet there is one will say: ‘It is but shallow, neither […]...
- The Demiurge's Laugh It was far in the sameness of the wood; I was running with joy on the Demon’s trail, Though I knew what I hunted was no true god. I was just as the light was beginning to fail That I suddenly head all I needed to hear: It has lasted me many and many a […]...
- The bow-leg boy Who should come up the road one day But the doctor-man in his two-wheel shay! And he whoaed his horse and he cried “Ahoy! I have brought you folks a bow-leg boy! Such a cute little boy! Such a funny little boy! Such a dear little bow-leg boy!” He took out his box and he […]...
- What is "Paradise" What is “Paradise” Who live there Are they “Farmers” Do they “hoe” Do they know that this is “Amherst” And that I am coming too Do they wear “new shoes” in “Eden” Is it always pleasant there Won’t they scold us when we’re homesick Or tell God how cross we are You are sure there’s […]...
- THE FOOL'S EPILOGUE MANY good works I’ve done and ended, Ye take the praise I’m not offended; For in the world, I’ve always thought Each thing its true position hath sought. When praised for foolish deeds am I, I set off laughing heartily; When blamed for doing something good, I take it in an easy mood. If some […]...
- Who saw no Sunrise cannot say Who saw no Sunrise cannot say The Countenance ‘twould be. Who guess at seeing, guess at loss Of the Ability. The Emigrant of Light, it is Afflicted for the Day. The Blindness that beheld and blest And could not find its Eye....
- Weekend Glory Some clichty folks Don’t know the facts, Posin’ and preenin’ And puttin’ on acts, Stretchin’ their backs. They move into condos Up over the ranks, Pawn their souls To the local banks. Buying big cars They can’t afford, Ridin’ around town Actin’ bored. If they want to learn how to live life right They ought […]...
- Little Orphant Annie INSCRIBED WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION To all the little children: The happy ones; and sad ones; The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones; The good ones Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely bad ones. Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay, An’ wash the cups […]...
- Pigmy seraphs gone astray Pigmy seraphs gone astray Velvet people from Vevay Balles from some lost summer day Bees exclusive Coterie Paris could not lay the fold Belted down with Emerald Venice could not show a check Of a tint so lustrous meek Never such an Ambuscade As of briar and leaf displayed For my little damask maid I […]...
- Drifter God gave you guts: don’t let Him down; Brace up, be worthy of His giving. The road’s a rut, the sky’s a frown; I know you’re plumb fed up with living. Fate birches you, and wry the rod. . . Snap out, you fool! Don’t let down God. Oh, yes, you’re on misfortune’s shift, And […]...
- Paralysis For moveless limbs no pity I crave, That never were swift! Still all I prize, Laughter and thought and friends, I have; No fool to heave luxurious sighs For the woods and hills that I never knew. The more excellent way’s yet mine! And you Flower-laden come to the clean white cell, And we talk […]...
- Almost Beyond Endurance 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’ Carlo bite my rubber-ball An’ puncture it; an’ Sis she take An’ poke’ my knife down through the stable-floor An’ loozed it – blame it all! But I ain’t goin’ to cry no more, no […]...
- A Character How often do I wish I were What people call a character; A ripe and cherubic old chappie Who lives to make his fellows happy; With in his eyes a merry twinkle, And round his lips a laughing wrinkle; Who radiating hope and cheer Grows kindlier with every year. For this ideal let me strive, […]...
- Unless Who has not wanted, does not guess What plenty is. Who has not groped In depths of doubt and hopelessness, Has never truly hoped. Unless, sometimes, a shaow falls Upon his mirth, and veils his sight, And from the darkness drifts the light Of love at intervals. And that most dear of everything, I hold, […]...
- Thanksgiving Gettin’ together to smile an’ rejoice, An’ eatin’ an’ laughin’ with folks of your choice; An’ kissin’ the girls an’ declarin’ that they Are growin’ more beautiful day after day; Chattin’ an’ braggin’ a bit with the men, Buildin’ the old family circle again; Livin’ the wholesome an’ old-fashioned cheer, Just for awhile at the […]...
- A Culinary Puzzle In our dainty little kitchen, Where my aproned wife is queen Over all the tin-pan people, In a realm exceeding clean, Oft I like to loiter, watching While she mixes things for tea; And she tasks me, slyly smiling, “Now just guess what this will be!” Hidden in a big blue apron, Her dimpled arms […]...
- The Vampire A fool there was and he mad his prayer (Even as you and I!) To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair (We called her the woman who did not care), But the fool he called her his lady fair (Even as you and I!) Oh the years we waste and the […]...
- Ossawatomie I DON’T know how he came, Shambling, dark, and strong. He stood in the city and told men: My people are fools, my people are young and strong, my people must learn, my people are terrible workers and fighters. Always he kept on asking: Where did that blood come from? They said: You for the […]...
- COPTIC SONG LEAVE we the pedants to quarrel and strive, Rigid and cautious the teachers to be! All of the wisest men e’er seen alive Smile, nod, and join in the chorus with me: “Vain ’tis to wait till the dolt grows less silly! Play then the fool with the fool, willy-nilly, Children of wisdom, remember the […]...
- My Bear I never killed a bear because I always thought them critters was So kindo’ cute; Though round my shack they often came, I’d raise my rifle and take aim, But couldn’t shoot. Yet there was one full six-feet tall Who came each night and gobbled all The grub in sight; On my pet garden truck […]...
- Ignorance Oh happy he who cannot see With scientific eyes; Who does not know how flowers grow, And is not planet wise; Content to find with simple mind Joys as they are: To whom a rose is just a rose, A star a star. It is not good, I deem, to brood On things beyond our […]...
- Jack's Legacy The critic gushed and said, “Just like Jack, So raw, I never thought to see another writer just Like Kerouac!” Kerouac, who the fuck is he? A writer? Christ, that’s a laugh, compare me to a writer! Let’s face it I’m no hack, I’m not so much to look at either, But maybe Jack took […]...
- The Aristocrat The Devil is a gentleman and askes you down to stay At his little place at What’sitsname (it isn’t far away). They say the sport is splendid; there is always something new, And fairy scenes, and fearful feats that none but he can do; He can shoot the feathered cherubs if they fly on the […]...
- Common Things I like to hear of wealth and gold, And El Doradoes in their glory; I like for silks and satins bold To sweep and rustle through a story. The nightingale is sweet of song; The rare exotic smells divinely; And knightly men who stride along, The role heroic carry finely. But then, upon the other […]...
- Laughing Song When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy And the dimpling stream runs laughing by, When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it. When the meadows laugh with lively green And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene. When Mary and Susan […]...
- The Sinking Fund Cried [“Now what, we ask, is become of this Sinking Fund – these eight millions of surplus above expenditure, which were to reduce the interest of the national debt by the amount of four hundred thousand pounds annually? Where, indeed, is the Sinking Fund itself?” – The Times] Take your bell, take your bell, Good Crier, […]...
- The first Day's Night had come The first Day’s Night had come And grateful that a thing So terrible had been endured I told my Soul to sing She said her Strings were snapt Her Bow to Atoms blown And so to mend her gave me work Until another Morn And then a Day as huge As Yesterdays in pairs, Unrolled […]...
« Fantasy