Jes\' down the road a piece, \'ith the dust so deep

It teched the bay mare\'s fetlocks; an\' the sun

So b\'ilin\' hot, the pewees dassn\'t peep;

Seemed like midsummer \'fore the spring\'s begun!

An\' me plumb beat an\' good-fer-nothin\'-like

An\' awful lonedsome fer a sight o\' you …

I come to that big locus\' by the pike,

An\' she was all in bloom, an\' trembly, too,

With breezes like drug-store perfumery.

I stood up in my stirrups, with my head

So deep in flowers they almost smothered me.

I kind o\' liked to think that I was dead …

An\' if I hed \'a\' died like that to-day,

I\'d \'a\' be\'n the happiest man in I-o-way.

For whut\'s the us\'t o\' goin\' on like this?

Your pa not \'lowin me around the place …

Well, fust I knowed, I\'d give them blooms a kiss;

They tasted like Good-Night on your white face.

I reached my arms out wide, an\' hugged \'em—say,

I dreamp\' your little heart was hammerin\' me!

I broke this branch off for a love-bo\'quet;

\'F I\'d be\'n a giant............