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

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Title: Riley Love-Lyrics

Author: James Whitcomb Riley

Illustrator: Will Vawter

Release Date: November 23, 2006 [EBook #19897]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration]

RILEY LOVE-LYRICS

[Illustration]

RILEY LOVE-LYRICS

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

ILLUSTRATED BY WILL VAWTER

INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1883, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1901,
1905 by James Whitcomb Riley.

Copyright 1921, The Bobbs-Merrill Company

_Printed in the United States of America_

PRESS OF
BRAUNWORTH & CO.
BOOK MANUFACTURERS
BROOKLYN, N.Y.

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._

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CONTENTS

BLOOMS OF MAY 185
DISCOURAGING MODEL, A 132
"DREAM" 41
FARMER WH