 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
665
MY FIRST SPECTACLES
At first I laughed—for it was quite
An oddity to see
My reflex looking from the glass
Through spectacles at me.
An oddity to see
My reflex looking from the glass
Through spectacles at me.
But as I gazed I really found
They so improved my sight
That many wrinkles in my face
Were mixed with my delight;
They so improved my sight
That many wrinkles in my face
Were mixed with my delight;
And many streaks of silver, too,
Were gleaming in my hair,
With quite a hint of baldness that
I never dreamed was there.
Were gleaming in my hair,
With quite a hint of baldness that
I never dreamed was there.
And as I readjusted them
And winked in slow surprise,
A something like a mist had come
Between them and my eyes.
And winked in slow surprise,
A something like a mist had come
Between them and my eyes.
And, peering vainly still, the old
Optician said to me,
The while he took them from my nose
And wiped them hastily:
Optician said to me,
The while he took them from my nose
And wiped them hastily:
“Jes' now, of course, your eyes is apt
To water some—but where
Is any man's on earth that won't
The first he has to wear?”
To water some—but where
Is any man's on earth that won't
The first he has to wear?”
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |