The Joy Ride

When Mistress Peggy moves around,
    Her dresses make a mocking sound.
"You can't catch me!" they seem to say--
    I often steal a ride that way.

Oliver Herford

Oliver Herford was born in England on December 2, 1860. He was a British-born American writer, artist, and illustrator, often referred to as 'The American Oscar Wilde' for his sharp wit and humorous works. Herford authored and illustrated many books for children and adults, contributing to magazines such as "The Criterion", "Life", and "Punch". He died on July 5, 1935, in France.

Oliver Herford

To The Clock

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

Ignace Jan Paderewski

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

To Stern Critics

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

The Ph[oe]nix

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

An East Wind

The glitter of wheels far down the street
    (Ah me, and alack a day.)
And I heard the thud of his horse's feet
    Beating a roundelay.
And I felt a little song coming, coming
Over my lips as humming, humming,
    I turned my eyes that way.

Somebody passed, who was wont to pause:
    (Ah me, and alack a day.)
He bowed and smiled; yet for some cause
    The mirth went out of my lay.
A wind from the east rose, sighing, sighing,
I felt my little song dying, dying,
    She laughed as they rode away.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Ride.

She rode o'er hill, she rode o'er plain,
She rode by fields of barley,
By morning-glories filled with rain,
And beechen branches gnarly.

She rode o'er plain, she rode o'er hill,
By orchard land and berry;
Her face was buoyant as the rill,
Her eyes and heart were merry,

A bird sang here, a bird sang there,
Then blithely sang together,
Sang sudden greetings every where,
"Good-morrow!" and "good weather!"

The sunlight's laughing radiance
Laughed in her radiant tresses;
The bold breeze set her curls a-dance,
Made red her lips with kisses.

"Why ride ye here, why ride ye there,
Why ride ye here so merry?
The sunlight living in your hair,
And in your cheek the cherry?

"Why ride ye with your sea-green plumes,
Your...

Madison Julius Cawein

Reflections Of A Proud Pedestrian

I saw the curl of his waving lash,
And the glance of his knowing eye,
And I knew that he thought he was cutting a dash,
As his steed went thundering by.

And he may ride in the rattling gig,
Or flourish the Stanhope gay,
And dream that he looks exceeding big
To the people that walk in the way;

But he shall think, when the night is still,
On the stable-boy's gathering numbers,
And the ghost of many a veteran bill
Shall hover around his slumbers;

The ghastly dun shall worry his sleep,
And constables cluster around him,
And he shall creep from the wood-hole deep
Where their spectre eyes have found him!

Ay! gather your reins, and crack your thong,
And bid your steed go faster;
He does not know, as he scrambles along,
That he h...

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The Silent Wheel.

[From Arthur Selwyn's Note-book.]

        Through these broad streets do I fly -
        Furlongs and miles I defy,
        Till the "magnificent distance"
        Vanishes out of existence.
        Let me with pencil prolong
        Strains of the Bicycler's Song:


[The Silent Wheel.]

    Good-morning, good Pedestrian - I'm glad to see you out;
    The day is full of healthfulness, the birds are all about;
    There is a quiet breeziness in all the pleasant air -
    I hope this happy exercise will drive away your care.
                                    For I am a pedestrian -
                                    A very good pedestrian -
    And all the glowing benefit of walking I can share;
    Although I tread the atmosphere, and ...

William McKendree Carleton

A Motor Courtship

Into her presence he gaily pranced,
A very fat spark, and a bit advanced.

With a Samson tread on the earth he trod,
He was stayed and gaitered, and fifty odd.

And she was a tulip just unfurled,
The sweetest thing in the motor world.

Her body was one of which poets dreamed;
Eighteen, twenty, or so she seemed.

Her air was haughty, her spirit proud,
But properly governed, as all allowed.

"Pity," he said, "my sad condition;
My heart's in a state of advanced ignition.

"Ask me to do some desperate deed,
And I'll do it at once at my topmost speed."

"Sir," said the maiden, "pray be seated;
I fear from your bearing you're somewhat heated.

"And I trust that a timely lubrication
Of throttle will cool your circulation."...

Andrew Barton Paterson

The Rivals

    Said the Bicycle to the Automobile:
    "How high and mighty and gay you feel;
    Yet I can remember the day when I
    Would let no other one pass me by
    Cart horse and roadster and racehorse too,
    Far ahead of them all I flew.
    Now my tires are unpumped and my warning bell
    The attention of nobody can compel.

    "Though you maim your thousands where I hurt one,
    Though ten times my farthest is your day's run,
    Still I have been learning while lying here,
    That a rival's coming for you to fear.
    I have heard them talk of a wonderful thing,
    That can fly in the air like a bird on the wing,
    That can carry a man over land, over sea;
    In a twinkling he is where he wishes to be.

    "So swiftly it speeds, in a we...

Helen Leah Reed