Riley Love-Lyrics   By: James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

RILEY LOVE LYRICS

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RILEY LOVE LYRICS

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

ILLUSTRATED BY WILL VAWTER

INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1883, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1905 by James Whitcomb Riley.

Copyright 1921, The Bobbs Merrill Company

Printed in the United States of America

PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N.Y.

INSCRIBED

TO THE ELECT OF LOVE, OR SIDE BY SIDE IN RAPTEST ECSTASY, OR SUNDERED WIDE BY SEAS THAT BEAR NO MESSAGE TO OR FRO BETWEEN THE LOVED AND LOST OF LONG AGO.

So were I but a minstrel, deft At weaving, with the trembling strings Of my glad harp, the warp and weft Of rondels such as rapture sings, I'd loop my lyre across my breast, Nor stay me till my knee found rest In midnight banks of bud and flower Beneath my lady's lattice bower.

And there, drenched with the teary dews, I'd woo her with such wondrous art As well might stanch the songs that ooze Out of the mockbird's breaking heart; So light, so tender, and so sweet Should be the words I would repeat, Her casement, on my gradual sight, Would blossom as a lily might.

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CONTENTS

BLOOMS OF MAY 185 DISCOURAGING MODEL, A 132 "DREAM" 41 FARMER WHIFFLE BACHELOR 161 HAS SHE FORGOTTEN? 183 HE AND I 79 HE CALLED HER IN 45 HER BEAUTIFUL EYES 56 HER FACE AND BROW 55 HER HAIR 129 HER WAITING FACE 67 HOME AT NIGHT 122 HOW IT HAPPENED 93 IKE WALTON'S PRAYER 107 ILLILEO 113 JUDITH 75 LAST NIGHT AND THIS 130 LEONAINIE 63 LET US FORGET 60 LOST PATH, THE 83 MY BRIDE THAT IS TO BE 87 MY MARY 117 NOTHIN' TO SAY 103 OLD PLAYED OUT SONG, A' 26 OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE, AN 17 OLD YEAR AND THE NEW, THE 68 OUT WORN SAPPHO, AN 32 PASSING OF A HEART, THE 39 RIVAL, THE 137 ROSE, THE 177 SERMON OF THE ROSE, THE 189 SUSPENSE 136 THEIR SWEET SORROW 72 TO HEAR HER SING 149 TOM VAN ARDEN 138 TOUCHES OF HER HANDS, THE 159 VARIATION, A 151 VERY YOUTHFUL AFFAIR, A 31 WHEN AGE COMES ON 180 WHEN LIDE MARRIED HIM 125 WHEN MY DREAMS COME TRUE 98 WHEN SHE COMES HOME 59 WHERE SHALL WE LAND? 156 WIFE BLESSÉD, THE 115

RILEY LOVE LYRICS

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AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE

As one who cons at evening o'er an album all alone, And muses on the faces of the friends that he has known, So I turn the leaves of fancy till, in shadowy design, I find the smiling features of an old sweetheart of mine.

The lamplight seems to glimmer with a flicker of surprise, As I turn it low to rest me of the dazzle in my eyes, And light my pipe in silence, save a sigh that seems to yoke Its fate with my tobacco and to vanish with the smoke.

Tis a fragrant retrospection for the loving thoughts that start Into being are like perfume from the blossom of the heart; And to dream the old dreams over is a luxury divine When my truant fancy wanders with that old sweetheart of mine.

Though I hear, beneath my study, like a fluttering of wings, The voices of my children, and the mother as she sings, I feel no twinge of conscience to deny me any theme When Care has cast her anchor in the harbor of a dream.

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