Me an' Bert an' Minnie-Belle <br />Knows a joke, an' we won't tell! <br />No, we don't--'cause we don't know <br />_Why_ we got to laughin' so; <br />But we got to laughin' so, <br />'We ist kep' a-laughin'. <br /> <br />Wind wuz blowin' in the tree-- <br />An' wuz only ist us three <br />Playin' there; an' ever' one <br />Ketched each other, like we done, <br />Squintin' up there at the sun <br />Like we wuz a-laughin'. <br /> <br />Nothin' funny anyway; <br />But I laughed, an' so did they-- <br />An' we all three laughed, an' nen <br />Squint' our eyes an' laugh' again: <br />Ner we didn't ist _p'ten'_-- <br />We wuz _shore-'nough_ laughin'. <br /> <br />'We ist laugh' an' laugh', tel Bert <br />Say he _can't_ quit an' it hurt. <br />Nen I _howl_, an' Minnie-Belle <br />She tear up the grass a spell <br />An' ist stop her yeers an' _yell_ <br />Like she'd _die_ a-laughin'. <br /> <br />Never sich fool-youngens yit! <br />Nothin' funny,--not a bit!-- <br />But we laugh' so; tel we whoop' <br />Purt'-nigh like we have the croup-- <br />All so hoarse we'd wheeze an' whoop <br />An' ist _choke_ a-laughin'.<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fool-youngens/
