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‹Better GutenbergThe Old Soldier’s StoryHer Light Guitar · 47 of 107Contents›

The Old Soldier’s Story

by James Whitcomb Riley

47 of 107 · Contents · Download EPUB

Her Light Guitar

She twankled a tune on her light guitar—
  A low, sweet jangle of tangled sounds,
As blurred as the voices of the fairies are,
  Dancing in moondawn dales and downs;
    And the tinkling drip of the strange refrain
    Ran over the rim of my soul like rain.

The great blond moon in the midnight skies
  Paused and poised o’er the trellis eaves,
And the stars, in the light of her upturned eyes,
  Sifted their love through the rifted leaves,
    Glittered and splintered in crystal mist
    Down the glittering strings that her fingers kissed.

O the melody mad! O the tinkle and thrill
  Of the ecstasy of the exquisite thing!
The red rose dropped from the window-sill
  And lay in a long swoon quivering;
    While the dying notes of the strain divine
    Rippled in glee up my spellbound spine.

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