Almost Beyond Endurance

James Whitcomb Riley

I ain't a-goin' to cry no more, no more!

I'm got ear-ache, an' ma can't make
It quit a-tall;
An' Carlo bite my rubber-ball
An' puncture it; an' Sis she take

An' poke my knife down through the stable-floor

An' loozed it—blame it all!

But I ain't goin' to cry no more, no more!

An' Aunt Mame wrote she's a-comin', an' she can't—

Folks is come there!—An' I don't care,
She is my Aunt!
An' my eyes stings; an' I'm
Ist coughin' all the time,

An' hurts me so, an' where my side's so sore

Granpa felt where, an' he
Says "maybe it's pleurasy!"

But I ain't goin' to cry no more, no more!

An' I climbed up an' nen falled off the fence,

An' Herbert he ist laugh at me!
An' my fi'-cents

It sticked in my tin bank, an' I ist tore

Purt' nigh my thumbnail off, a-tryin' to git
It out—nen smash it!—An it's in there yit!

But I ain't goin' to cry no more, no more!

Oo! I'm so wickud!—An' my breath's so hot—

Ist like I run an' don't rest none

But ist run on when I ought to not;

Yes, an' my chin
An' lip's all warpy, an' my teeth's so fast,
An' 's a place in my throat I can't swaller past—
An' they all hurt so!—
An' oh, my—oh!
I'm a-startin' a'gin—

I'm a-startin ag'in, but I won't, fer shore!—

I ist ain't goin' to cry no more, no more!