Classic Poem

DEAD IN CALIFORNIA, OCTOBER 15, 1885

JOLLY-HEARTED old Josh Billings,
With his wisdom and his wit,
And his gravity of presence,
And the drollery of it! —
Has he left us, and forever? —
When so many merry years
He has only left us laughing —
And he leaves us now in tears?

Has he turned from his " Deer Publik, "
With his slyly twinkling eyes
Now grown dim and heavy-lidded
In despite of sunny skies? —
Yet with rugged brow uplifted,
And the long hair tossed away,
Like an old heroic lion,
With a mane of iron-gray.

Though we lose him, still we find him
In the mirth of every lip,
And we fare through all his pages
In his glad companionship:
His voice is wed with Nature's,
Laughing in each woody nook
With the chirrup of the robin
And the chuckle of the brook.

But the children — O the children! —
They who leaped to his caress,
And felt his arms about them,
And his love and tenderness, —
Where — where will they find comfort
As their tears fall like the rain,
And they swarm his face with kisses
That he answers not again?