JOLLY-HEARTED old Josh Billings, With his wisdom and his wit, And his gravity of presence, And the drollery of it! -- Has he left us, and forever? -- When so many merry years He has only left us laughing -- And he leaves us now in tears? Has he turned from his "Deer Publik," With his slyly twinkling eyes Now grown dim and heavy-lidded In despite of sunny skies? -- Yet with rugged brow uplifted, And the long hair tossed away, Like an old heroic lion, With a mane of iron-gray. Though we lose him, still we find him In the mirth of every lip, And we fare through all his pages In his glad companionship: His voice is wed with Nature's, Laughing in each woody nook With the chirrup of the robin And the chuckle of the brook. But the children -- O the children! -- They who leaped to his caress, And felt his arms about them, And his love and tenderness, -- Where -- where will they find comfort As their tears fall like the rain, And they swarm his face with kisses That he answers not again? |