Armazindy / The Poems and Prose Sketches of James Whitcomb Riley

Chapter 67: A TWINTORETTE

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About This Book

A mixed collection of poems and prose sketches that depicts small‑town and rural life through vernacular narration, sentimental observation, and comic detail. Longer narrative pieces explore personal loss, domestic struggles, and neighborhood intrigues, while shorter lyrics and children’s verses celebrate play, memory, and everyday tenderness. The voice shifts between musical, folksy dialect and plain colloquial phrasing, producing a rhythmic, conversational tone. Recurrent concerns include household labor, family ties, youthful fancy, and the mingled humor and nostalgia of ordinary community experience.

A TWINTORETTE

Ho! my little maiden

With the glossy tresses,

Come thou and dance with me

A measure all divine;

Let my breast be laden

With but thy caresses—

Come thou and glancingly

Mate thy face with mine.

Thou shalt trill a rondel,

While my lips are purling

Some dainty twitterings

Sweeter than the birds’;

And, with arms that fondle

Each as we go twirling,

We will kiss, with titterings,

Lisps and loving words.