Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, JOSH BILLINGS, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

JOSH BILLINGS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Jolly-hearted old josh billings
Last Line: That he answers not again?
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Children; Death; Nature; Wisdom; Childhood; Dead, The


JOLLY-HEARTED old Josh Billings,
With his wisdom and his wit,
And his gravity of presence,
And the drollery of it! --
Has he left us, and forever? --
When so many merry years
He has only left us laughing --
And he leaves us now in tears?

Has he turned from his "Deer Publik,"
With his slyly twinkling eyes
Now grown dim and heavy-lidded
In despite of sunny skies? --
Yet with rugged brow uplifted,
And the long hair tossed away,
Like an old heroic lion,
With a mane of iron-gray.

Though we lose him, still we find him
In the mirth of every lip,
And we fare through all his pages
In his glad companionship:
His voice is wed with Nature's,
Laughing in each woody nook
With the chirrup of the robin
And the chuckle of the brook.

But the children -- O the children! --
They who leaped to his caress,
And felt his arms about them,
And his love and tenderness, --
Where -- where will they find comfort
As their tears fall like the rain,
And they swarm his face with kisses
That he answers not again?





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