The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley in ten volumes |
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DUSK SONG—THE BEETLE |
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 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
505
DUSK SONG—THE BEETLE
The shrilling locust slowly sheathes
His dagger-voice, and creeps away
Beneath the brooding leaves where breathes
The zephyr of the dying day:
One naked star has waded through
The purple shallows of the night,
And faltering as falls the dew
It drips its misty light.
His dagger-voice, and creeps away
Beneath the brooding leaves where breathes
The zephyr of the dying day:
One naked star has waded through
The purple shallows of the night,
And faltering as falls the dew
It drips its misty light.
O'er garden blooms,
On tides of musk,
The beetle booms adown the glooms
And bumps along the dusk.
On tides of musk,
The beetle booms adown the glooms
And bumps along the dusk.
The katydid is rasping at
The silence from the tangled broom:
On drunken wings the flitting bat
Goes staggering athwart the gloom;
The toadstool bulges through the weeds,
And lavishly to left and right
The fireflies, like golden seeds,
Are sown about the night.
The silence from the tangled broom:
On drunken wings the flitting bat
Goes staggering athwart the gloom;
The toadstool bulges through the weeds,
And lavishly to left and right
The fireflies, like golden seeds,
Are sown about the night.
506
O'er slumbrous blooms,
On floods of musk,
The beetle booms adown the glooms
And bumps along the dusk.
On floods of musk,
The beetle booms adown the glooms
And bumps along the dusk.
The primrose flares its baby-hands
Wide open, as the empty moon,
Slow lifted from the underlands,
Drifts up the azure-arched lagoon;
The shadows on the garden walk
Are frayed with rifts of silver light;
And, trickling down the poppy-stalk,
The dewdrop streaks the night.
Wide open, as the empty moon,
Slow lifted from the underlands,
Drifts up the azure-arched lagoon;
The shadows on the garden walk
Are frayed with rifts of silver light;
And, trickling down the poppy-stalk,
The dewdrop streaks the night.
O'er folded blooms,
On swirls of musk,
The beetle booms adown the glooms
And bumps along the dusk.
On swirls of musk,
The beetle booms adown the glooms
And bumps along the dusk.
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |