Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAY SOMETHING TO ME by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: SAY SOMETHING TO ME! I'VE WAITED SO LONG
Last Line: OVER THE DEEPS OF THE SKY.
Subject(s): HEAVEN; LOVE; SPEECH; PARADISE; ORATORY; ORATORS;

Say something to me! I've waited so long --
Waited and wondered in vain;
Only a sentence would fall like a song
Over this listening pain --
Over a silence that glowers and frowns, --
Even my pencil to-night
Slips in the dews of my sorrow and wounds
Each tender word that I write.

Say something to me -- if only to tell
Me you remember the past;
Let the sweet words, like the notes of a bell,
Ring out my vigil at last.
O it were better, far better than this
Doubt and distrust in the breast, --
For in the wine of a fanciful kiss
I could taste Heaven, and -- rest.

Say something to me! I kneel and I plead,
In my wild need, for a word;
If my poor heart from this silence were freed,
I could soar up like a bird
In the glad morning, and twitter and sing,
Carol and warble and cry
Blithe as the lark as he cruises awing
Over the deeps of the sky.




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