Riley Farm-Rhymes Part 3

III

Jes' a-sorto' lazin' there-- S'lazy, 'at you peek and peer Through the wavin' leaves above, Like a feller 'at's in love And don't know it, ner don't keer!

Ever'thing you hear and see Got some sort o' interest-- Maybe find a bluebird's nest Tucked up there conveenently Fer the boy 'at's ap' to be Up some other apple-tree!

Watch the swallers skootin' past 'Bout as peert as you could ast, Er the Bob-white raise and whiz Where some other's whistle is

IV

Ketch a shadder down below, And look up to find the crow-- Er a hawk,--away up there, 'Pearantly FROZE in the air!-- Hear the old hen squawk, and squat Over ever' chick she's got, Suddent-like!--and she knows where That-air hawk is, well as you!-- You jes' bet yer life she do!-- Eyes a-glitterin' like gla.s.s, Waitin' till he makes a pa.s.s!

V

Pee-wees' singin', to express My opinion, 's second cla.s.s, Yit you'll hear 'em more er less; Sapsucks gittin' down to biz, Weedin' out the lonesomeness; Mr. Bluejay, full o' sa.s.s, In them base-ball clothes o' his, Sportin' round the orchard jes'

Like he owned the premises!

Sun out in the fields kin sizz, But flat on yer back, I guess, In the shade's where glory is!

That's jes' what I'd like to do Stiddy fer a year er two!

VI

Plague! ef they ain't somepin' in Work 'at kindo' goes ag'in'

My convictions!--'long about Here in June especially!-- Under some old apple-tree, Jes' a-restin' through and through I could git along without Nothin' else at all to do Only jes' a-wis.h.i.+n' you Wuz a-gittin' there like me, And June was eternity!

VII

Lay out there and try to see Jes' how lazy you kin be!-- Tumble round and souse yer head In the clover-bloom, er pull Yer straw hat acrost yer eyes And peek through it at the skies, Thinkin' of old chums 'at's dead, Maybe, smilin' back at you In betwixt the beautiful Clouds o' gold and white and blue.

Month a man kin railly love June, you know, I'm talkin' of!

VIII

March ain't never nothin' new!

Aprile's altogether too Brash fer me! and May--I jes'

'Bominate its promises, Little hints o' suns.h.i.+ne and Green around the timber-land-- A few blossoms, and a few Chip-birds, and a sprout er two,-- Drap asleep, and it turns in 'Fore daylight and SNOWS ag'in!-- But when JUNE comes--Clear my th'oat With wild honey!--Rench my hair In the dew! and hold my coat!

Whoop out loud! and th'ow my hat!-- June wants me, and I'm to spare!

Spread them shadders anywhere, I'll git down and waller there, And obleeged to you at that!

SEPTEMBER DARK

I

The air falls chill; The whippoorwill Pipes lonesomely behind the hill: The dusk grows dense, The silence tense; And lo, the katydids commence.

II

Through shadowy rifts Of woodland, lifts The low, slow moon, and upward drifts, While left and right The fireflies' light Swirls eddying in the skirts of Night.

III

O Cloudland, gray And level, lay Thy mists across the face of Day!

At foot and head, Above the dead, O Dews, weep on uncomforted!

THE CLOVER

Some sings of the lily, and daisy, and rose, And the pansies and pinks that the Summertime throws In the green gra.s.sy lap of the medder that lays Blinkin' up at the skyes through the suns.h.i.+ney days; But what is the lily and all of the rest Of the flowers, to a man with a hart in his brest That was dipped brimmin' full of the honey and dew Of the sweet clover-blossoms his babyhood knew?

I never set eyes on a clover-field now, Er fool round a stable, er climb in the mow, But my childhood comes back jest as clear and as plane As the smell of the clover I'm sniffin' again; And I wunder away in a bare-footed dream, Whare I tangle my toes in the blossoms that gleam With the dew of the dawn of the morning of love Ere it wept ore the graves that I'm weepin' above.

And so I love clover--it seems like a part Of the sacerdest sorrows and joys of my hart; And wharever it blossoms, oh, thare let me bow And thank the good G.o.d as I'm thankin' Him now; And I pray to Him still fer the stren'th when I die, To go out in the clover and tell it good-bye, And lovin'ly nestle my face in its bloom While my soul slips away on a breth of purfume

OLD OCTOBER

Old October's purt' nigh gone, And the frosts is comin' on Little HEAVIER every day-- Like our hearts is thataway!

Leaves is changin' overhead Back from green to gray and red, Brown and yeller, with their stems Loosenin' on the oaks and e'ms; And the balance of the trees Gittin' balder every breeze-- Like the heads we're scratchin' on!

Old October's purt' nigh gone.

I love Old October so, I can't bear to see her go-- Seems to me like losin' some Old-home relative er chum-- 'Pears like sorto' settin' by Some old friend 'at sigh by sigh Was a-pa.s.sin' out o' sight Into everlastin' night!

Hickernuts a feller hears Rattlin' down is more like tears Drappin' on the leaves below-- I love Old October so!

Can't tell what it is about Old October knocks me out!-- I sleep well enough at night-- And the blamedest appet.i.te Ever mortal man possessed,-- Last thing et, it tastes the best!-- Warnuts, b.u.t.ternuts, pawpaws, 'Iles and limbers up my jaws Fer raal service, sich as new Pork, spareribs, and sausage, too.-- Yit, fer all, they's somepin' 'bout Old October knocks me out!