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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


HOPE by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: HOPE, BENDING O'ER ME ONE TIME, SNOWED THE FLAKES
Last Line: "WHAT MAKES MY LITTLE GIRL SO SAD TO-NIGHT?"
Subject(s): DREAMS; HOPE; KISSES; NIGHTMARES; OPTIMISM;

HOPE, bending o'er me one time, snowed the flakes
Of her white touches on my folded sight,
And whispered, half rebukingly, "What makes
My little girl so sorrowful to-night?"

O scarce did I unclasp my lids, or lift
Their tear-glued fringes, as with blind embrace
I caught within my arms the mother-gift,
And with wild kisses dappled all her face.

That was a baby dream of long ago:
My fate is fanged with frost, and tongued with flame:
My woman-soul, chased naked through the snow,
Stumbles and staggers on without an aim.

And yet, here in my agony, sometimes
A faint voice reaches down from some far height,
And whispers through a glamouring of rhymes, --
"What makes my little girl so sad to-night?"



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