James Whitcomb Riley

Riley Love-Lyrics

Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4064066148188

Table of Contents


ILLUSTRATIONS
AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE
A' OLD PLAYED-OUT SONG
A VERY YOUTHFUL AFFAIR
AN OUT-WORN SAPPHO
THE PASSING OF A HEART
"DREAM"
HE CALLED HER IN
HER BEAUTIFUL EYES
HER FACE AND BROW
LET US FORGET
WHEN SHE COMES HOME
LEONAINIE
HER WAITING FACE
THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW
THEIR SWEET SORROW
JUDITH
HE AND I
THE LOST PATH
MY BRIDE THAT IS TO BE
HOW IT HAPPENED
WHEN MY DREAMS COME TRUE
NOTHIN' TO SAY
IKE WALTON'S PRAYER
ILLILEO
THE WIFE-BLESSÉD
MY MARY
HOME AT NIGHT
WHEN LIDE MARRIED HIM
HER HAIR
LAST NIGHT—AND THIS
A DISCOURAGING MODEL
SUSPENSE
TOM VAN ARDEN
TO HEAR HER SING
THE RIVAL
A VARIATION
WHERE SHALL WE LAND?
THE TOUCHES OF HER HANDS
A SONG OF LONG AGO
WHEN AGE COMES ON
FARMER WHIPPLE—BACHELOR
THE ROSE
HAS SHE FORGOTTEN?
BLOOMS OF MAY
THE SERMON OF THE ROSE

ILLUSTRATIONS

Table of Contents
PAGE
Love-Lyrics Frontispiece
Illustrations—Tailpiece xx
An Old Sweetheart of Mine 23
And I Light My Pipe in Silence 24
The Voices of My Children 25
The Pink Sunbonnet 26
When First I Kissed Her 27
(untitled image) 29
My Wife is Standing There 30
A' Old Played-Out Song 33
A' Old Played-Out Song—Tailpiece 35
A Very Youthful Affair 36
An Out-worn Sappho 41
An Out-worn Sappho—Tailpiece 43
The Passing of a Heart—Title 44
The Passing of a Heart—Tailpiece 45
"Dream" 47
"Dream"—Tailpiece 49
He Called Her In—Title 50
A Dark and Eerie Child 51
When She First Came to Me 57
He Called Her In—Tailpiece 59
Her Beautiful Eyes 61
Her Face and Brow 63
Let Us Forget—Title 64
Our Worn Eyes are Wet 65
When She Comes Home 67
Leonainie—Title 68
Leonainie—Tailpiece 70
Her Waiting Face 71
The Old Year and the New—Title 72
I Saw the Old Year End 73
Their Sweet Sorrow 77
Judith 79
O, Her Eyes are Amber-fine 81
He and I 85
The Lost Path—Title 87
The Lost Path 89
Madonna-like and Glorified 91
How it Happened 97
When My Dreams Come True 101
Nothin' to Say 105
Ike Walton's Prayer—Title 107
Ike Walton's Prayer—Tailpiece 110
Illileo 113
Wife-Blesséd, The 115
The Auld Trysting-Tree 119
My Mary—Tailpiece 121
Home at Night 123
When Lide Married Him—Title 125
When Lide Married Him—Tailpiece 127
Her Hair 129
Last Night and This—Title 131
Last Night and This—Tailpiece 132
A Discouraging Model—Title 133
A Cameo Face 135
Suspense 137
Tom Van Arden—Title 139
Tom Van Arden 141
To Hear Her Sing 146
The Rival 148
A Variation—Title 151
Where Shall We Land?—Title 154
Where Shall We Land?—Tailpiece 156
The Touches of Her Hands—Title 157
The Touches of Her Hands—Tailpiece 158
O Rarely Soft, the Touches of Her Hands 159
A Song of Long Ago 161
When Age Comes On 165
Farmer Whipple—Bachelor—Title 167
Ridin' Home with Mary 171
Farmer Whipple—Bachelor—Tailpiece 177
The Rose—Title 178
Has She Forgotten? 183
Blooms of May—Title 185
O Lad and Lass 186
O Gleam and Gloom and Woodland Bloom 187
The Sermon of the Rose 191

(ILLUSTRATIONS—TAILPIECE)

RILEY LOVE-LYRICS

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(AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE)

AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE

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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.

(AND I LIGHT MY PIPE IN SILENCE)

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.

(THE VOICES OF MY CHILDREN)

In fact, to speak in earnest, I believe it adds a charm
To spice the good a trifle with a little dust of harm—
For I find an extra flavor in Memory's mellow wine
That makes me drink the deeper to that old sweetheart of mine.

(THE PINK SUNBONNET)

A face of lily-beauty, with a form of airy grace,
Floats out of my tobacco as the genii from the vase;
And I thrill beneath the glances of a pair of azure eyes
As glowing as the summer and as tender as the skies.

I can see the pink sunbonnet and the little checkered dress
She wore when first I kissed her and she answered the caress
With the written declaration that, "as surely as the vine
Grew round the stump," she loved me—that old sweetheart of mine.

(WHEN FIRST I KISSED HER)

And again I feel the pressure of her slender little hand,
As we used to talk together of the future we had planned—
When I should be a poet, and with nothing else to do
But write the tender verses that she set the music to:

When we should live together in a cozy little cot
Hid in a nest of roses, with a fairy garden-spot,
Where the vines were ever fruited, and the weather ever fine,
And the birds were ever singing for that old sweetheart of mine:

(untitled image)

When I should be her lover forever and a day,
And she my faithful sweetheart till the golden hair was gray;
And we should be so happy that when either's lips were dumb
They would not smile in Heaven till the other's kiss had come.

* * *

But, ah! my dream is broken by a step upon the stair,
And the door is softly opened, and—my wife is standing there;
Yet with eagerness and rapture all my visions I resign
To greet the living presence of that old sweetheart of mine.

(MY WIFE IS STANDING THERE)

A' OLD PLAYED-OUT SONG

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