Poem by James Whitcomb Riley

The Harper

LIKE a drift of faded blossoms
    Caught in a slanting rain, 
His fingers glimpsed down the strings of his harp
    In a tremulous refrain:

Patter and tinkle, and drip and drip!
    Ah! but the chords were rainy sweet! 
And I closed my eyes and I bit my lip,
    As he played there in the street.

Patter, and drip, and tinkle!
    And there was the little bed 
In the corner of the garret,
    And the rafters overhead!

And there was the little window --
    Tinkle, and drip, and drip!-- 
The rain above, and a mother's love,
    And God's companionship!

1. Wortermelon Time
2. Knee-Deep in June
3. On the Death of Little Mahala Ashcraft
4. To My Old Friend, William Leachman
5. A Barefoot Boy

Thomas Campbell The Harper ("ON the green banks of Shannon, when Sheelah was nigh")

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