Explore "To Edgar Wilson Nye" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
O "William,"-in thy blithe companionship / What liberty is mine-what sweet release / From clamorous strife, and yet what boisterous peace! / Ho! ho! it is thy fancy's finger-tip / That dints the dimple now, and kinks the lip / That scarce may sing, in all this glad increase / Of merriment! So, pray-thee, do not cease / To cheer me thus; -for, underneath the quip / Of thy droll sorcery, the wrangling fret / Of all distress is stilled-no syllable / Of sorrow vexeth me-no tear-drops wet / My teeming lids save those that leap to tell / Thee thou'st a guest that overweepeth, yet / Only because thou jokest overwell.