 | [Poems by Riley in] Life's verses |  |
12
SAYS HE WOULD SMILE
Well, I should smile in rapture gay
If she would only deign to say,
“I like you as a friend,” and slip
Within my palm the finger-tip
She snaps in her coquettish way.
If she would only deign to say,
“I like you as a friend,” and slip
Within my palm the finger-tip
She snaps in her coquettish way.
And if her eyes of azure-gray
Grew tender as the blooms of May,
In warmth of my companionship—
Well, I should smile.
Grew tender as the blooms of May,
In warmth of my companionship—
Well, I should smile.
But, O, if she her head should lay
Against my buttonhole-bouquet,
And lift the lushness of her lip
To mine—my giddy heart would skip
The tra-la-lee till Judgment Day,—
Well, I should smile!
Against my buttonhole-bouquet,
And lift the lushness of her lip
To mine—my giddy heart would skip
The tra-la-lee till Judgment Day,—
Well, I should smile!
J. W. R.
26
ALL SHE COULD DO
When he first came courting me,
It was all that I could do
To receive him civilly;
He was old, and homely, too—
Old, and bald, and with an air
So presumptive, I declare
I abhorred him through and through—
It was all that I could do!
It was all that I could do
To receive him civilly;
He was old, and homely, too—
Old, and bald, and with an air
So presumptive, I declare
I abhorred him through and through—
It was all that I could do!
Why, to hear him speak of love,
It was all that I could do
Not to slap him with the glove
That he bent in homage to;
And to have him touch his lips
To the crumpled finger-tips,
Kept me silent—though he knew
It was all that I could do!
It was all that I could do
Not to slap him with the glove
That he bent in homage to;
And to have him touch his lips
To the crumpled finger-tips,
Kept me silent—though he knew
It was all that I could do!
When he dared to press my waist,
It was all that I could do—
Thus to find myself embraced—
To restrain a sob or two.
Swooningly my forehead fell
On the rose in his lapel,
As I murmured, “My! Oomh-oh!!”—
It was all that I could do!
It was all that I could do—
Thus to find myself embraced—
To restrain a sob or two.
Swooningly my forehead fell
On the rose in his lapel,
As I murmured, “My! Oomh-oh!!”—
It was all that I could do!
James Whitcomb Riley.
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