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Has She Forgotten?

By James Whitcomb Riley

Topics: classic

I     Has she forgotten? On this very May     We were to meet here, with the birds and bees,     As on that Sabbath, underneath the trees     We strayed among the tombs, and stripped away     The vines from these old granites, cold and gray -     And yet indeed not grim enough were they     To stay our kisses, smiles and ecstasies,     Or closer voice-lost vows and rhapsodies.     Has she forgotten - that the May has won     Its promise? - that the bird-songs from the tree     Are sprayed above the grasses as the sun     Might jar the dazzling dew down showeringly?     Has she forgotten life - love - everyone -     Has she forgotten me - forgotten me?     II     Low, low down in the violets I press     My lips and whisper to her. Does she hear,     And yet hold silence, though I call her dear,     Just as of old, save for the tearfulness     Of the clenched eyes, and the soul's vast distress?     Has she forgotten thus the old caress     That made our breath a quickened atmosphere     That failed nigh unto swooning with the sheer     Delight? Mine arms clutch now this earthen heap     Sodden with tears that flow on ceaselessly     As autumn rains the long, long, long nights weep     In memory of days that used to be, -     Has she forgotten these? And in her sleep,     Has she forgotten me - forgotten me?     III     To-night, against my pillow, with shut eyes,     I mean to weld our faces - through the dense     Incalculable darkness make pretense     That she has risen from her reveries     To mate her dreams with mine in marriages     Of mellow palms, smooth faces, and tense ease     Of every longing nerve of indolence, -     Lift from the grave her quiet lips, and stun     My senses with her kisses - drawl the glee     Of her glad mouth, full blithe and tenderly,     Across mine own, forgetful if is done     The old love's awful dawn-time when said we,     "To-day is ours!"... Ah, Heaven! can it be     She has forgotten me - forgotten me!

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James Whitcomb Riley

About James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) was an American poet known as the "Hoosier Poet." His dialect poems—including "Little Orphant Annie" and "When the Frost Is on the Punkin"—celebrate rural Indiana life and childhood nostalgia.

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