Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AT BROAD RIPPLE, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ah, luxury! Beyond the heat Last Line: And feel the best of life is mine. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Calm; Nature; Rivers; Water; Placid; Undisturbed; Tranquility | ||||||||
AH, luxury! Beyond the heat And dust of town, with dangling feet, Astride the rock below the dam, In the cool shadows where the clam Rests on the stream again, and all Is silent save the waterfall, -- I bait my hook and cast my line, And feel the best of life is mine. No high ambition may I claim -- I angle not for lordly game Of trout, or bass, or wary bream -- A black perch reaches the extreme Of my desires; and "goggle-eyes" Are not a thing that I despise; A sunfish, or a "chub," or "cat" -- A "silver-side" -- yea, even that! In eloquent tranquillity The waters lisp and talk to me. Sometimes, far out, the surface breaks, As some proud bass an instant shakes His glittering armor in the sun, And romping ripples, one by one, Come dallying across the space Where undulates my smiling face. The river's story flowing by, Forever sweet to ear and eye, Forever tenderly begun -- Forever new and never done. Thus lulled and sheltered in a shade Where never feverish cares invade, I bait my hook and cast my line, And feel the best of life is mine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A COTTAGE IN THE MIDST' by KENNETH REXROTH STILL ON WATER by KENNETH REXROTH THE LOVE POEMS OF MARICHIKO: 6 by KENNETH REXROTH REVELATION by LOUIS UNTERMEYER TO A FRIEND by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD PAX BRITANNICA by ALFRED AUSTIN A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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