Explore "Josh Billings. Dead in California, October 15, 1885" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Jolly-hearted old Josh Billings, / With his wisdom and his wit, / And his gravity of presence, / And the drollery of it! / Has he left us, and forever? / When so many merry years / He has only left us laughing -- / And he leaves us now in tears?
Has he turned from his "Deer Publik," / With his slyly twinkling eyes / Now grown dim and heavy-lidded / In despite of sunny skies? -- / Yet with rugged brow uplifted, / And the long hair tossed away, / Like an old heroic lion, / With a mane of iron-gray.