Explore "Old Chums" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"If I die first," my old chum paused to say, / "Mind! not a whimper of regret: -- instead, / Laugh and be glad, as I shall. -- Being dead, / I shall not lodge so very far away / But that our mirth shall mingle. -- So, the day / The word comes, joy with me. " "I'll try," I said, / Though, even speaking, sighed and shook my head / And turned, with misted eyes. His roundelay / Rang gaily on the stair; and then the door / Opened and -- closed. Yet something of the clear, / Hale hope, and force of wholesome faith he had / Abided with me -- strengthened more and more. -- / Then -- then they brought his broken body here: / And I laughed -- whisperingly -- and we were glad.