The Dead Lover

James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)



Time is so long when a man is dead!
Some one sews; and the room is made
Very clean; and the light is shed
Soft through the window-shade.

Yesterday I thought: 'I know
Just how the bells will sound, and how
The friends will talk, and the sermon go,
And the hearse-horse bow and bow!'

This is to-day; and I have no thing
To think of-- nothing whatever to do
But to hear the throb of the pulse of a wing
That wants to fly back to you.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

27 sec read
401

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 427
Words 91
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. more…

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