 | The poet, the fool and the faeries |  |
163
OLD “BUD” RILEY
“Little Boy!—Halloo! halloo!
Can't you hear me calling you?—
Little Boy that Used to Be,
Come in here and play with me!”—
“Bud” Riley.
Can't you hear me calling you?—
Little Boy that Used to Be,
Come in here and play with me!”—
“Bud” Riley.
Over the rail-fence of the years,
That climbs and crumbles between our lands,
Old “Bud” Riley, I stretch my hands
Full of my love and all that endears,
As the boy's young hands that once you knew,
Filled with unfaltering faith in you,
And love and laughter and smiles and tears.
The same old love that once you knew
When you and I went wandering through
Song's flowery fields, with never a frown,
And whistled our sweetheart, freckled and brown,
Our country Muse, in homespun gown,
Who smiled on you and on me again,
As we tuned our pipes in the sun and rain,
Far from the crowd and the deafening town,
Out in the woods where the world is sane,
Out in the air of the open plain,
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Old “Bud” Riley, her heart was yours,
Is ... though my love for her endures;
That little sweetheart, who, long, oh, long,
Has kept you a boy in the Land o' Song.
| The poet, the fool and the faeries | |