The Poetry Corner

From the Headboard of a Grave in Paraguay

By James Whitcomb Riley

A troth, and a grief, and a blessing, Disguised them and came this way, And one was a promise, and one was a doubt, And one was a rainy day. And they met betimes with this maiden, And the promise it spake and lied, And the doubt it gibbered and hugged itself, And the rainy day - she died.