Riley Farm-Rhymes

ROMANCIN'

     I' b'en a-kindo' "musin'," as the feller says, and I'm
       About o' the conclusion that they hain't no better
         time,
     When you come to cipher on it, than the times we ust to
       know
     When we swore our first "dog-gone-it" sorto' solum-like
       and low!

     You git my idy, do you?—LITTLE tads, you understand—
     Jest a-wishin' thue and thue you that you on'y wuz a
            MAN.—
     Yit here I am, this minit, even sixty, to a day,
     And fergittin' all that's in it, wishm' jest the other way!

     I hain't no hand to lectur' on the times, er dimonstrate
     Whare the trouble is, er hector and domineer with Fate,—
     But when I git so flurried, and so pestered-like and blue,
     And so rail owdacious worried, let me tell you what I
           do!—

     I jest gee-haw the hosses, and onhook the swingle-tree,
     Whare the hazel-bushes tosses down theyr shadders over
           me;
     And I draw my plug o' navy, and I climb the fence, and
           set
     Jest a-thinkin' here, i gravy' tel my eyes is wringin'-wet!

     Tho' I still kin see the trouble o' the PRESUNT, I kin see—
     Kindo' like my sight wuz double-all the things that
           UST to be;
     And the flutter o' the robin and the teeter o' the wren
     Sets the willer-branches bobbin' "howdy-do" thum Now
         to Then!

     The deadnin' and the thicket's jest a-bilin' full of June,
     From the rattle o' the cricket, to the yallar-hammer's
         tune;
     And the catbird in the bottom, and the sapsuck on the
         snag,
     Seems ef they can't-od-rot 'em!-jest do nothin' else
         but brag!

     They's music in the twitter of the bluebird and the jay,
     And that sassy little critter jest a-peckin' all the day;
     They's music in the "flicker," and they's music in the
         thrush,
     And they's music in the snicker o' the chipmunk in the
         brush!

     They's music all around me!—And I go back, in a dream
     Sweeter yit than ever found me fast asleep,—and in the
         stream
     That list to split the medder whare the dandylions
         growed,
     I stand knee-deep, and redder than the sunset down the
         road.

     Then's when I' b'en a-fishin'!—And they's other fellers,
         too,
     With theyr hick'ry-poles a-swishin' out behind 'em; and
         a few
     Little "shiners" on our stringers, with theyr tails tip—
         toein' bloom,
     As we dance 'em in our fingers all the happy jurney
         home.

     I kin see us, true to Natur', thum the time we started out,
     With a biscuit and a 'tater in our little "roundabout"!—
     I kin see our lines a-tanglin', and our elbows in a jam,
     And our naked legs a-danglin' thum the apern o' the dam.

     I kin see the honeysuckle climbin' up around the mill,
     And kin hear the worter chuckle, and the wheel a-growl-
         in' still;
     And thum the bank below it I kin steal the old canoe,
     And jest git in and row it like the miller ust to do.

     W'y, I git my fancy focussed on the past so mortul plane
     I kin even smell the locus'-blossoms bloomin' in the lane;
     And I hear the cow-bells clinkin' sweeter tunes 'n
         "Money-musk"'
     Fer the lightnin' bugs a-blinkin' and a-dancin' in the dusk.

     And when I've kep' on "musin'," as the feller says, tel I'm
     Firm-fixed in the conclusion that they haint no better
         time,
     When you come to cipher on it, than the old times,—I
         de-clare
     I kin wake and say "dog-gone-it'" jest as soft as any
         prayer!