Oh luxury! Beyond the heat <br />And dust of town, with dangling feet <br />Astride the rock below the dam, <br />In the cool shadows where the calm <br />Rests on the stream again, and all <br />Is silent save the waterfall,-- <br />I bait my hook and cast my line, <br />And feel the best of life is mine. <br /> <br />No high ambition can I claim -- <br />I angle not for lordly game <br />Of trout, or bass, or wary bream -- <br />A black perch reaches the extreme <br />Of my desires; and "goggle-eyes" <br />Are not a thing that I despise; <br />A sunfish, or a "chub," or a "cat"-- <br />A "silver-side"-- yea, even that! <br /> <br />In eloquent tranquility <br />The waters lisp and talk to me. <br />Sometimes, far out, the surface breaks, <br />As some proud bass an instant shakes <br />His glittering armor in the sun, <br />And romping ripples, one by one, <br />Come dallyiong across the space <br />Where undulates my smiling face. <br /> <br />The river's story flowing by, <br />Forever sweet to ear and eye, <br />Forever tenderly begun -- <br />Forever new and never done. <br />Thus lulled and sheltered in a shade <br />Where never feverish cares invade, <br />I bait my hook and cast my line, <br />And feel the best of life is mine.<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/at-broad-ripple/
