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Tired Out

By James Whitcomb Riley

Topics: classic

"tired out!"    Yet face and brow     Do not look aweary now,     And the eyelids lie like two     Pure, white rose-leaves washed with dew.     Was her life so hard a task? -     Strange that we forget to ask     What the lips now dumb for aye     Could have told us yesterday!     "Tired out!"    A faded scrawl     Pinned upon the ragged shawl -     Nothing else to leave a clue     Even of a friend or two,     Who might come to fold the hands,     Or smooth back the dripping strands     Of her tresses, or to wet     Them anew with fond regret.     "Tired out!"    We can but guess     Of her little happiness -     Long ago, in some fair land,     When a lover held her hand     In the dream that frees us all,     Soon or later, from its thrall -     Be it either false or true,     We, at last, must tire, too.

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""tired out!"    Yet face and brow..."

"Tired Out" is a quintessential example of James Whitcomb Riley's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:James Whitcomb Riley

""tired out!"    Yet face and brow..." by James Whitcomb Riley

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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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"Writ in between the lines of his life-deed        ..."

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