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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A RHYME FOR CHRISTMAS by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: IF BROWNING ONLY WERE HERE
Last Line: THOUGH IT TOOK US TILL CHRISTMAS NEXT YEAR TO SEE THROUGH IT.
Subject(s): CHRISTMAS; KISSES; RHYME; NATIVITY, THE;

IF @3Browning@1 only were here,
This yule-ish time o' the year --
This mule-ish time o' the year,
Stubbornly still refusing
To add to the rhymes we've been using
Since the first Christmas-glee
(One might say) chantingly
Rendered by rudest hinds
Of the pelt-clad shepherding kinds
Who didn't know Song from b-U-double-l's-foot! -- pah! --
(Haply the old Egyptian @3ptah@1 --
Though I'd hardly wager a baw-
Bee -- or a @3bumble,@1 for that --
And that's flat!) . . .
But the thing that I want to get at
Is a rhyme for @3Christmas@1 --
Nay! nay! nay! nay! not @3isthmus@1 --
The t- and the h-sounds covertly are
Gnawing the nice auricular
Senses until one may hear them gnar --
And the terminal, too, for m@3as@1 is m@3us@1,
So @3that@1 will not do for us.
Try for it -- sigh for it -- cry for it -- die for it!
O @3but@1 if Browning were here to apply for it,
@3He'd@1 rhyme you @3Christmas@1 --
@3He'd@1 make a @3mist pass@1
Over -- something o' ruther --
Or find you the rhyme's very brother
In lovers that @3kissed fast
To baffle the moon@1 -- as he'd lose the @3t@1-final
In fas-t as it blended with @3to@1 (mark the spinal
Elision -- tip-clipt as exquisitely nicely
And hyper-exactingly sliced to precisely
The extremest technical need): Or he'd @3twist glass,@1
Or he'd have a @3kissed lass,@1
Or shake 'neath our noses some great giant @3fist-mass@1 --
No matter! If Robert were here, @3he@1 could do it,
Though it took us till Christmas next year to see through it.



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