Read "Two Sonnets to the June-Bug" by James Whitcomb Riley online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I. You make me jes' a little nervouser / Than any dog-gone bug I ever see! / And you know night's the time to pester me -- / When any tetch at all 'll rub the fur / Of all my patience back'ards! You're the myrrh / And ruburb of my life! A bumblebee / Cain't hold a candle to you; and a he / Bald hornet, with a laminated spur / In his hip pocket, daresent even cheep / When you're around! And, dern ye! you have made / Me lose whole ricks and stacks and piles of sleep, -- / And many of a livelong night I've laid / And never shut an eye, hearin' you keep / Up that eternal buzzin' serenade!
II. And I've got up and lit the lamp, and clum / On cheers and trunks and wash-stands and bureaus, / And all such dangerous articles as those, / And biffed at you with brooms, and never come / 'In two feet of you, -- maybe skeered you some, -- / But what does that amount to when it throws / A feller out o' balance, and his nose / Gits barked ag'inst the mantel, while you hum / Fer joy around the room, and churn your head / Ag'inst the ceilin', and draw back and butt / The plasterin' loose, and drop -- behind the bed, / Where never human-bein' ever putt / Harm's hand on you, er ever truthful said / He'd choked yer dern infernal wizzen shut!