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James Whitcomb Riley's Complete Works; Including Poems and Prose Sketches, Many of Which Have Not Heretofore Been Published
James Whitcomb Riley's Complete Works Including Poems and Prose Sketches Many of Which Have Not Heretofore Been Published Author:James Whitcomb Riley General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1916 Original Publisher: The Bobbs-Merrill company Subjects: Poetry / General Poetry / American / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of t... more »his book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE FLYING ISLANDS OF THE NIGHT ACT I Place -- The Flying Islands Scene I. Spirkland. Time, Moondawn. Interior Court of Krung. A vast, pendant star burns dimly in dome above throne. Crestillomeem discovered languidly reclining at foot of empty throne, an overturned goblet lying near, as though just drained. The Queen, in seeming dazed, ecstatic state, raptly gazing upward, listening. Swarming forms and features in air above, seen eeriely coming and going, blending and intermingling in domed ceiling-spaces of court. Weird music. Mystic, luminous, beautiful faces detached from swarm, float singly forward, -- tremulously, and in succession, poising in mid-air and chanting. First Face And who hath known her -- like as / Have known her? -- since the envying sky Filched from her cheeks its morning hue, And from her eyes its glory, too, Of dazzling shine and diamond-dew. Second Face / knew her -- long and long before High 2Eo loosed her palm and thought: "What awful splendor have I wrought To dazzle earth and Heaven, too!" . Third Face I knew her -- long ere Night was o'er -- Ere 2Eo yet conjectured what To fashion Day of -- ay, before He sprinkled stars across the floor Of dark, and swept that form of mine, E'en as a fleck of blinded shine, Back to the black where light was not. Fourth Face Ere day was dreamt, I saw her face Lift from some starry hiding-place Where our old moon was kneeling while She lit its features with her smile. Fifth Face I knew her while...« less