Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Diane Monico, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net RILEY LOVE-LYRICS [Illustration: (LOVE-LYRICS)] RILEY LOVE-LYRICS JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY WITH LIFE PICTURES BY WILLIAM B. DYER [Illustration] NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1883, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1905 by James Whitcomb Riley INSCRIBED To the Elect of Love,--or side-by-side In raptest ecstasy, or sundered wide By seas that bear no message to or fro Between the loved and lost of long ago. So were I but a minstrel, deft At weaving, with the trembling strings Of my glad harp, the warp and weft Of rondels such as rapture sings,-- I'd loop my lyre across my breast, Nor stay me till my knee found rest In midnight banks of bud and flower Beneath my lady's lattice-bower. And there, drenched with the teary dews, I'd woo her with such wondrous art As well might stanch the songs that ooze Out of the mockbird's breaking heart; So light, so tender, and so sweet Should be the words I would repeat, Her casement, on my gradual sight, Would blossom as a lily might. CONTENTS PAGE BLOOMS OF MAY 185 DISCOURAGING MODEL, A 133 "DREAM" 46 FARMER WHIPPLE--BACHELOR 167 HAS SHE FORGOTTEN? 181 HE AND I 83 HE CALLED HER IN 50 HER BEAUTIFUL EYES 60 HER HAIR 128 HER FACE AND BROW 63 HER WAITING FACE 71 HOME AT NIGHT 122 HOW IT HAPPENED 95 IKE WALTON'S PRAYER 107 ILLILEO 111 JUDITH 79 LAST NIGHT AND THIS 131 LEONAINIE 68 LET US FORGET 64 LOST PATH, THE 87 MY BRIDE THAT IS TO BE 90 MY MARY 117 NOTHIN' TO SAY 103 OLD PLAYED-OUT SONG, A' 31 OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE, AN 23 OLD YEAR AND THE NEW, THE 72 OUT-WORN SAPPHO, AN 37 PASSING OF A HEART, THE 44 RIVAL, THE 148 ROSE, THE 178 SERMON OF THE ROSE, THE 189 SONG OF LONG AGO, A 160 SUSPENSE 136