Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HE AND I, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HE AND I, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Just drifting on together
Last Line: For the sky.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Dreams; Happiness; July; Life; Love; Nightmares; Joy; Delight


JUST drifting on together --
He and I --
As through the balmy weather
Of July
Drift two thistle-tufts embedded
Each in each -- by zephyrs wedded --
Touring upward, giddy-headed,
For the sky.

And, veering up and onward,
Do we seem
Forever drifting dawnward
In a dream,
Where we meet song-birds that know us,
And the winds their kisses blow us,
While the years flow far below us Like a stream.

And we are happy -- very --
He and I --
Aye, even glad and merry
Though on high
The heavens are sometimes shrouded
By the midnight storm, and clouded
Till the pallid moon is crowded
From the sky.

My spirit ne'er expresses
Any choice
But to clothe him with caresses
And rejoice;
And as he laughs, it is in
Such a tone the moonbeams glisten
And the stars come out to listen
To his voice.

And so, whate'er the weather,
He and I, --
With our lives linked thus together,
Float and fly
As two thistle-tufts embedded
Each in each -- by zephyrs wedded --
Touring upward, giddy-headed,
For the sky.





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