 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
I
He was a Dreamer of the Days:
Indolent as a lazy breeze
Of midsummer, in idlest ways
Lolling about in the shade of trees.
The farmer turned—as he passed him by
Under the hillside where he kneeled
Plucking a flower—with scornful eye
And rode ahead in the harvest-field
Muttering—“Lawz! ef that-air shirk
Of a boy wuz mine fer a week er so,
He'd quit dreamin' and git to work
And airn his livin'—er—Well! I know!”
And even kindlier rumor said,
Tapping with finger a shaking head,—
“Got such a curious kind o' way—
Wouldn't surprise me much, I say!”
Indolent as a lazy breeze
Of midsummer, in idlest ways
Lolling about in the shade of trees.
The farmer turned—as he passed him by
Under the hillside where he kneeled
Plucking a flower—with scornful eye
And rode ahead in the harvest-field
Muttering—“Lawz! ef that-air shirk
Of a boy wuz mine fer a week er so,
He'd quit dreamin' and git to work
And airn his livin'—er—Well! I know!”
And even kindlier rumor said,
Tapping with finger a shaking head,—
“Got such a curious kind o' way—
Wouldn't surprise me much, I say!”
Lying limp, with upturned gaze
Idly dreaming away his days.
No companions? Yes, a book
Sometimes under his arm he took
To read aloud to a lonesome brook.
And schoolboys, truant, once had heard
A strange voice chanting, faint and dim—
Followed the echoes, and found it him,
Perched in a tree-top like a bird,
Singing, clean from the highest limb;
And, fearful and awed, they all slipped by
To wonder in whispers if he could fly.
Idly dreaming away his days.
No companions? Yes, a book
Sometimes under his arm he took
1778
And schoolboys, truant, once had heard
A strange voice chanting, faint and dim—
Followed the echoes, and found it him,
Perched in a tree-top like a bird,
Singing, clean from the highest limb;
And, fearful and awed, they all slipped by
To wonder in whispers if he could fly.
“Let him alone!” his father said
When the old schoolmaster came to say,
“He took no part in his books to-day—
Only the lesson the readers read.—
His mind seems sadly going astray!”
“Let him alone!” came the mournful tone,
And the father's grief in his sad eyes shone—
Hiding his face in his trembling hand,
Moaning, “Would I could understand!
But as Heaven wills it I accept
Uncomplainingly!” So he wept.
When the old schoolmaster came to say,
“He took no part in his books to-day—
Only the lesson the readers read.—
His mind seems sadly going astray!”
“Let him alone!” came the mournful tone,
And the father's grief in his sad eyes shone—
Hiding his face in his trembling hand,
Moaning, “Would I could understand!
But as Heaven wills it I accept
Uncomplainingly!” So he wept.
Then went “The Dreamer” as he willed,
As uncontrolled as a light sail filled
Flutters about with an empty boat
Loosed from its moorings and afloat:
Drifted out from the busy quay
Of dull school-moorings listlessly;
Drifted off on the talking breeze,
All alone with his reveries;
Drifted on, as his fancies wrought—
Out on the mighty gulfs of thought.
As uncontrolled as a light sail filled
Flutters about with an empty boat
Loosed from its moorings and afloat:
Drifted out from the busy quay
Of dull school-moorings listlessly;
Drifted off on the talking breeze,
All alone with his reveries;
Drifted on, as his fancies wrought—
Out on the mighty gulfs of thought.
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |