Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Portentous sound! Mysteriously
Last Line: Tis very kine in you to sing for me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Friendship; Gifts & Giving; Gratitude


PORTENTOUS sound! mysteriously vast
And awful in the grandeur of refrain
That lifts the listener's hair as it swells past,
And pours in turbid currents down the lane.

The small boy at the wood-pile, in a dream
Slow trails the meat-rind o'er the listless saw;
The chickens roosting o'er him on the beam
Uplift their drowsy heads with cootered awe.

The "gung-oigh!" of the pump is strangely stilled:
The smoke-house door bangs once emphatic'ly,
Then bangs no more, but leaves the silence filled
With one lorn plaint's despotic minstrelsy.

Yet I would join thy sorrowing madrigal,
Most melancholy cow, and sing of thee
Full-hearted through my tears, for, after all,
'Tis very kine in you to sing for me.





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