Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN STATE, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN STATE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Is it the martins or katydids?
Last Line: To know that she loves me now!
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Corpses; Death; Love; Cadavers; Dead, The


IS it the martins or katydids? --
Early morning or late at night?
A dream, belike, kneeling down on the lids
Of a dying man's eyesight.

. . . . . .

Over and over I heard the rain --
Over and over I waked to see
The blaze of the lamp as again and again
Its stare insulted me.

. . . . . .

It is not the click of the clock I hear --
It is the pulse of the clock, -- and lo!
How it throbs and throbs on the quickened ear
Of the dead man listening so!
come;"
But, being dead, I knew -- I knew! . . .
Some hearts they love us alive, and some
They love us dead -- they do!

And I am dead -- and I joy to be, --
For here are my folded hands, so cold,
And yet blood-warm with the roses she
Has given me to hold.

Dead -- yea, dead! -- But I hear the beat
Of her heart, as her warm lips touch my brow --
And O how sweet -- how blinding sweet
To know that she loves me now!





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