The Hoosier Poet's Tribute to Maxinkuckee

The green below and the blue above
The waves caressing the shores they love;
Sails in haven and sails afar,
And faint as the water lilies are
In inlets haunted of willow wands,
Listless rowers, and trailing hands,
With spray to gem them and tan to glove
The green below and the blue above.

The blue above and the green below.
would that the world was always so.
Always summer and warmth and light,
With mirth and melody day and night;
Birds in the boughs of the beckoning trees,
Chirr of locusts, and whiffs of breeze
World of roses that bud and bloom,
The blue above and the green below.

The green below and the blue above,
High, young hearts and the hopes thereof,
Kate in the hammock and Tom sprawled on
The sward-like a lover’s picture drawn
By the lucky dog himself, with Kate
To moon o 'er his shoulder and meditate
On a fat old purse or a lank young love
The green below and the blue above.

The blue above and the green below,
Shadows and sunshine to and fro -
Seasons for dreams - whate'er befall
Hero, heroine, hearts and all.
Wave of wildwood - the blithe bird sings,
and the leaf-hid locust whets his wings
Just as a thousand years ago-
The blue above and the green below.

James Whitcomb Riley

A letter written by the poet - concenring this peom and coming to Lake Maxinkuckee