Maysville Kentucky Blog

The moonlight falls the softest
    In Kentucky;
The summer's days come oft'est
    In Kentucky;
Friendship is the strongest,
Love's fires glow the longest;
Yet, a wrong is always wrongest
    In Kentucky.

The sunshine's ever brightest
    In Kentucky;
The breezes whisper lightest
    In Kentucky;
Plain girls are the fewest,
Maidens' eyes the bluest,
Their little hearts are truest
    In Kentucky.

Life's burdens bear the lightest
    In Kentucky;
The home fires burn the brightest
    In Kentucky;
While players are the keenest,
Cards come out the meanest,
The pocket empties cleanest
    In Kentucky.

Orators are the grandest
    In Kentucky;
Officials are the blandest
    In Kentucky;
Boys are all the fliest,
Danger ever nighest,
Taxes are the highest
    In Kentucky.

The bluegrass waves the bluest
    In Kentucky;
Yet bluebloods are the fewest (?)
    In Kentucky;
Moonshine is the clearest,
By no means the dearest,
And yet, it acts the queerest,
    In Kentucky.

The dove's notes are the saddest
    In Kentucky;
The streams dance on the gladdest
    In Kentucky;
Hip pockets are the thickest,
Pistol hands the slickest,
The cylinder turns quickest
    In Kentucky.

Song birds are the sweetest
    In Kentucky;
The thoroughbreds the fleetest
    In Kentucky;
Mountains tower proudest,
Thunder peals the loudest,
The landscape is the grandest - and
Politics - the damnedest
    In Kentucky.

"In Kentucky" is perhaps the best known and most printed poem about Kentucky. It was written by Judge James Hilary Mulligan for a banquet for the members of the Kentucky legislature held 11 February 1902 at the Phoenix Hotel in Lexington. Full Story