'I have twankled the strings of the twinkering rain; <br />I have burnished the meteor's mail; <br />I have bridled the wind <br />When he whinnied and whined <br />With a bunch of stars tied to his tail; <br />But my sky-rocket hopes, hanging over the past, <br />Must fuzzle and fazzle and fizzle at last!' <br /> <br />I had waded far out in a drizzling dream, <br />And my fancies had spattered my eyes <br />With a vision of dread, <br />With a number ten head, <br />And a form of diminutive size-- <br />That wavered and wagged in a singular way <br />As he wound himself up and proceeded to say,-- <br /> <br />'I have trimmed all my corns with the blade of the moon; <br />I have picked every tooth with a star: <br />And I thrill to recall <br />That I went through it all <br />Like a tune through a tickled guitar. <br />I have ripped up the rainbow and raveled the ends <br />When the sun and myself were particular friends.' <br /> <br />And pausing again, and producing a sponge <br />And wiping the tears from his eyes, <br />He sank in a chair <br />With a technical air <br />That he struggled in vain to disguise,-- <br />For a sigh that he breathed, as I over him leant, <br />Was haunted and hot with a peppermint scent. <br /> <br />'Alas!' he continued in quavering tones <br />As a pang rippled over his face, <br />'The life was too fast <br />For the pleasure to last <br />In my very unfortunate case; <br />And I'm going'--he said as he turned to adjust <br />A fuse in his bosom,--'I'm going to--BUST!' <br /> <br />I shrieked and awoke with the sullen che-boom <br />Of a five-pounder filling my ears; <br />And a roseate bloom <br />Of a light in the room <br />I saw through the mist of my tears,-- <br />But my guest of the night never saw the display, <br />He had fuzzled and fazzled and fizzled away!<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-old-year-s-address/
