| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1133. When She Comes Home |
| | | By James Whitcomb Riley |
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| WHEN she comes home again! A thousand ways | |
| I fashion, to myself, the tenderness | |
| Of my glad welcome: I shall tremble—yes; | |
| And touch her, as when first in the old days | |
| I touched her girlish hand, nor dared upraise | 5 |
| Mine eyes, such was my faint heart’s sweet distress. | |
| Then silence: and the perfume of her dress: | |
| The room will sway a little, and a haze | |
| Cloy eyesight—soulsight, even—for a space; | |
| And tears—yes; and the ache here in the throat, | 10 |
| To know that I so ill deserve the place | |
| Her arms make for me; and the sobbing note | |
| I stay with kisses, ere the tearful face | |
| Again is hidden in the old embrace. | |
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