The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley in ten volumes |
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BACK FROM A TWO-YEARS' SENTENCE |
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 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
1260
BACK FROM A TWO-YEARS' SENTENCE
Back from a two-years' sentence!
And though it had been ten,
You think, I were scarred no deeper
In the eyes of my fellow men.
“My fellow men”?—sounds like a satire,
You think—and I so allow,
Here in my home since childhood,
Yet more than a stranger now!
And though it had been ten,
You think, I were scarred no deeper
In the eyes of my fellow men.
“My fellow men”?—sounds like a satire,
You think—and I so allow,
Here in my home since childhood,
Yet more than a stranger now!
Pardon!—Not wholly a stranger,—
For I have a wife and child:
That woman has wept for two long years,
And yet last night she smiled!—
Smiled, as I leapt from the platform
Of the midnight train, and then—
All that I knew was that smile of hers,
And our babe in my arms again!
For I have a wife and child:
That woman has wept for two long years,
And yet last night she smiled!—
Smiled, as I leapt from the platform
Of the midnight train, and then—
All that I knew was that smile of hers,
And our babe in my arms again!
Back from a two-years' sentence—
But I've thought the whole thing through,—
A hint of it came when the bars swung back
And I looked straight up in the blue
Of the blessed skies with my hat off!
Oho! I've a wife and child:
That woman has wept for two long years,
And yet last night she smiled!
But I've thought the whole thing through,—
A hint of it came when the bars swung back
And I looked straight up in the blue
1261
Oho! I've a wife and child:
That woman has wept for two long years,
And yet last night she smiled!
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |