OLD FASHIONED ROSES

OLD-FASHIONED ROSES

(Hoosier Dialect)

They ain't no style about 'em,

And they're sort o' pale and faded,

Yit the doorway here, without 'em,

Would be lonesomer, and shaded

With a good 'eal blacker shadder

Than the mornin'-glories makes,

And the sunshine would look sadder

For their good old-fashion' sakes.

I like 'em 'cause they kind o'

Sorto' make a feller like 'em!

And I tell you, when I find a

Bunch out whur the sun kin strike 'em,

It allus sets me thinkin'

O' the ones 'at used to grow,

And peek in thro' the chinkin'

O' the cabin, don't you know.

And then I think o' mother,

And how she used to love 'em

When they wusn't any other,

'Less she found 'em up above 'em!

And her eyes, afore she shut 'em,

Whispered with a smile and said

We must pick a bunch and put 'em

In her hand when she was dead.

But, as I was a-sayin',

They ain't no style about 'em

Very gaudy or displayin',

But I wouldn't be without 'em, --

'Cause I'm happier in these posies,

And the hollyhawks and sich

Than the hummin-bird 'at noses

In the roses of the rich.

This poem is a part of a collection of poems by James Whitcomb Riley called Old Fashioned Roses. The Bullis copy of this book is the twenty-eighth edition, published in 1906 by Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis.

Old fashioned roses are blooming along our roadsides now. Let's enjoy them while we can, together with Mr. Riley's equally beautiful poetry.