James Whitcomb Riley
Riley Farm-Rhymes
Published by Good Press, 2019
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4064066217228
Table of Contents
THE ORCHARD LANDS OF LONG AGO
WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN
WHEN THE GREEN GITS BACK IN THE TREES
WET-WEATHER TALK
THE BROOK-SONG
THOUGHTS FER THE DISCURAGED FARMER
"MYLO JONES'S WIFE"
HOW JOHN QUIT THE FARM
A CANARY AT THE FARM
WHERE THE CHILDREN USED TO PLAY
GRIGGSBY'S STATION
KNEE-DEEP IN JUNE
SEPTEMBER DARK
THE CLOVER
OLD OCTOBER
OLD-FASHIONED ROSES
A COUNTRY PATHWAY
WORTERMELON TIME
UP AND DOWN OLD BRANDYWINE
WHEN EARLY MARCH SEEMS MIDDLE MAY
A TALE OF THE AIRLY DAYS
OLD MAN'S NURSERY RHYME
JUNE
THE TREE-TOAD
A SONG OF LONG AGO
OLD WINTERS ON THE FARM
ROMANCIN'
THE ORCHARD LANDS OF LONG AGO
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The orchard lands of Long Ago!
O drowsy winds, awake, and blow
The snowy blossoms back to me,
And all the buds that used to be!
Blow back along the grassy ways
Of truant feet, and lift the haze
Of happy summer from the trees
That trail their tresses in the seas
Of grain that float and overflow
The orchard lands of Long Ago!
Blow back the melody that slips
In lazy laughter from the lips
That marvel much if any kiss
Is sweeter than the apple's is.
Blow back the twitter of the birds—
The lisp, the titter, and the words
Of merriment that found the shine
Of summer-time a glorious wine
That drenched the leaves that loved it so,
In orchard lands of Long Ago!
O memory! alight and sing
Where rosy-bellied pippins cling,
And golden russets glint and gleam,
As, in the old Arabian dream,
The fruits of that enchanted tree
The glad Aladdin robbed for me!
And, drowsy winds, awake and fan
My blood as when it overran
A heart ripe as the apples grow
In orchard lands of Long Ago!
WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN
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When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in
the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin'
turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the
hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful
rest,
As he leaves the house, bare-headed, and goes out to feed
the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the
shock.
They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is
here—
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the
trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the
bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the
haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the
shock.
The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves, as golden as the
morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the
shock!
Then your apples all is getherd, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks
is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and
saussage, too! …
I don't know how to tell it—but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around
on ME—
I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin'
flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the
shock!
WHEN THE GREEN GITS BACK IN THE TREES
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In Spring, when the green gits back in the trees,
And the sun comes out and STAYS,
And yer boots pulls on with a good tight squeeze,
And you think of yer bare-foot days;
When you ORT to work and you want to NOT,
And you and yer wife agrees
It's time to spade up the garden-lot,
When the green gits back in the trees
Well! work is the least o' MY idees
When the green, you know, gits back in the trees!
When the green gits back in the trees, and bees
Is a-buzzin' aroun' ag'in
In that kind of a lazy go-as-you-please
Old gait they bum roun' in;
When the groun's all bald whare the hay-rick stood,
And the crick's riz, and the breeze
Coaxes the bloom in the old dogwood,
And the green gits back in the trees—
I like, as I say, in sich scenes as these,
The time when the green gits back in the trees!