Explore "Lines for an Album" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I would not trace the hackneyed phrase / Of shallow words and empty praise, / And prate of "peace" till one might think / My foolish pen was drunk with ink.
Nor will I here the wish express / Of "lasting love and happiness,"
And "cloudless skies" -- for after all / "Into each life some rain must fall."
-- No. Keep the empty page below, / In my remembrance, white as snow -- / Nor sigh to know the secret prayer / My spirit hand has written there.