Explore "My Fiddle" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
My fiddle? -- Well, I kindo' keep her handy, don't you know! / Though I ain't so much inclined to tromp the strings and switch the bow / As I was before the timber of my elbows got so dry, / And my fingers was more limber-like and caperish and spry; / Yit I can plonk and plunk and plink, / And tune her up and play, / And jest lean back and laugh and wink / At ev'ry rainy day!
My playin' 's only middlin' -- tunes I picked up when a boy -- / The kindo'-sorto' fiddlin' that the folks calls "cordaroy"; / "The Old Fat Gal," and "Rye-straw," and "My Sailyor's on the Sea," / Is the old cowtillions _I_ "saw" when the ch'ice is left to me; / And so I plunk and plonk and plink, / And rosum-up my bow / And play the tunes that makes you think / The devil's in your toe!