Explore "Why" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Why are they written -- all these lovers' rhymes? / I catch faint perfumes of the blossoms white / That maidens drape their tresses with at night, / And, through dim smiles of beauty and the din / Of the musicians' harp and violin, / I hear, enwound and blended with the dance, / The voice whose echo is this utterance, -- / Why are they written -- all these lovers' rhymes?
Why are they written -- all these lovers' rhymes? / I see but vacant windows, curtained o'er / With webs whose architects forevermore / Race up and down their slender threads to bind / The buzzing fly's wings whirless, and to wind / The living victim in his winding sheet. -- / I shudder, and with whispering lips repeat, / Why are they written -- all these lovers' rhymes?