The Project Gutenberg EBook of Riley Love-Lyrics, by James Whitcomb Riley

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Title: Riley Love-Lyrics

Author: James Whitcomb Riley

Release Date: November 4, 2005 [EBook #16995]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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RILEY LOVE-LYRICS

[Illustration: (LOVE-LYRICS)]

RILEY
LOVE-LYRICS

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

WITH LIFE PICTURES BY
WILLIAM B. DYER

[Illustration]

NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1883, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1894,
1897, 1898, 1901, 1905

by

James Whitcomb Riley

INSCRIBED

To the Elect of Love,--or side-by-side
In raptest ecstasy, or sundered wide
By seas that bear no message to or fro
Between the loved and lost of long ago.

So were I but a minstrel, deft
At weaving, with the trembling strings
Of my glad harp, the warp and weft
Of rondels such as rapture sings,--
I'd loop my lyre across my breast,
Nor stay me till my knee found rest
In midnight banks of bud and flower
Beneath my lady's lattice-bower.

And there, drenched with the teary dews,
I'd woo her with such wondrous art
As well might stanch the songs that ooze
Out of the mockbird's breaking heart;
So light, so tender, and so sweet
Should be the words I would repeat,
Her casement, on my gradual sight,
Would blossom as a lily might.

CONTENTS

PAGE

BLOOMS OF MAY 185

DISCOURAGING MODEL, A 133

"DREAM" 46

FARMER WHIPPLE--BACHELOR 167

HAS SHE FORGOTTEN? 181

HE AND I 83

HE CALLED HER IN 50

HER BEAUTIFUL EYES 60

HER HAIR 128

HER FACE AND BROW 63

HER WAITING FACE