Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Illustration Of A Picture     They bid me strike the idle strings,     As if my summer days     Had shaken sunbeams from their wings     To warm"

"There's a thing that grows by the fainting flower,     And springs in the shade of the lady's bower;     The lily shrinks, and the rose turns pa"

"Afar he sleeps whose name is graven here,     Where loving hearts his early doom deplore;     Youth, promise, virtue, all that made him dear"

"Not in the world of light alone,     Where God has built his blazing throne,     Nor yet alone in earth below,     With belted seas that come a"

"No more the summer floweret charms,     The leaves will soon be sere,     And Autumn folds his jewelled arms     Around the dying year;     So"

"Yes, write, if you want to, there's nothing like trying;     Who knows what a treasure your casket may hold?     I'll show you that rhyming's as"

"Winter's cold drift lies glistening o'er his breast;     For him no spring shall bid the leaf unfold     What Love could speak, by sudden grief"

""Will I come?" That is pleasant! I beg to inquire     If the gun that I carry has ever missed fire?     And which was the muster-roll-mention bu"

"I wrote some lines once on a time     In wondrous merry mood,     And thought, as usual, men would say     They were exceeding good.     They"

"If all the trees in all the woods were men;     And each and every blade of grass a pen;     If every leaf on every shrub and tree     Turned t"

"The stars their early vigils keep,     The silent hours are near,     When drooping eyes forget to weep, -     Yet still we linger here;"

"Her hands are cold; her face is white;     No more her pulses come and go;     Her eyes are shut to life and light; -     Fold the white vestu"

"New England, we love thee; no time can erase     From the hearts of thy children the smile on thy face.     'T is the mother's fond look of affe"

"Like the tribes of Israel,     Fed on quails and manna,     Sherman and his glorious band     Journeyed through the rebel land,     Fed from H"

"This ancient silver bowl of mine, it tells of good old times,     Of joyous days and jolly nights, and merry Christmas times;     They were a fr"

"Meeting Of The Berkshire Horticultural Society, At Stockbridge, September 13,1854     Scarce could the parting ocean close,     Seamed by the Mayfl"

"These hallowed precincts, long to memory dear,     Smile with fresh welcome as our feet draw near;     With softer gales the opening leaves are"

"A sick man's chamber, though it often boast     The grateful presence of a literal toast,     Can hardly claim, amidst its various wealth,"

"Thou Gracious Power, whose mercy lends     The light of home, the smile of friends,     Our gathered flock thine arms infold     As in the peac"

"Ay, tear her tattered ensign down     Long has it waved on high,     And many an eye has danced to see     That banner in the sky;     Beneath"

"This shred of song you bid me bring     Is snatched from fancy's embers;     Ah, when the lips forget to sing,     The faithful heart remembers"

"Read At The Meeting Held At Music Hall, February 8, 1876, In Memory Of Dr. Samuel G. Howe I.     Leader of armies, Israel's God,     Thy soldier"

"Ere yet the warning chimes of midnight sound,     Set back the flaming index of the year,     Track the swift-shifting seasons in their round"

"Read at a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society.     No! never such a draught was poured     Since Hebe served with nectar     The brigh"

"I believe that the copies of verses I've spun,     Like Scheherezade's tales, are a thousand and one;     You remember the story, - those mornin"

"Dearest, a look is but a ray     Reflected in a certain way;     A word, whatever tone it wear,     Is but a trembling wave of air;     A touc"

"W. W. Swain     Behold - not him we knew!     This was the prison which his soul looked through,     Tender, and brave, and true.     His voice"

"Chicago sounds rough to the maker of verse;     One comfort we have - Cincinnati sounds worse;     If we only were licensed to say Chicago!"

"As Clemence! when I saw thee last     Trip down the Rue de Seine,     And turning, when thy form had past,     I said, "We meet again," -"

"In candent ire the solar splendor flames;     The foles, langueseent, pend from arid rames;     His humid front the Give, anheling, wipes,"

"Lord of all being! throned afar,     Thy glory flames from sun and star;     Centre and soul of every sphere,     Yet to each loving heart how"

"We trust and fear, we question and believe,     From life's dark threads a trembling faith to weave,     Frail as the web that misty night has s"

"Yes, we knew we must lose him, - though friendship may claim     To blend her green leaves with the laurels of fame;     Though fondly, at parti"

"Behold the shape our eyes have known!     It lives once more in changeless stone;     So looked in mortal face and form     Our guide through p"

"To Charles Wentworth Upham, The Following Metrical Essay Is Affectionately Inscribed.     Scenes of my youth! awake its slumbering fire!     Ye wi"

"My aunt! my dear unmarried aunt!     Long years have o'er her flown;     Yet still she strains the aching clasp     That binds her virgin zone;"

"Do you know the Old Man of the Sea, of the Sea?     Have you met with that dreadful old man?     If you have n't been caught, you will be, you w"

"It is not what we say or sing,     That keeps our charm so long unbroken,     Though every lightest leaf we bring     May touch the heart as fr"

"I LIKE YOU Met I LOVE You, face to face;     The path was narrow, and they could not pass.     I LIKE YOU smiled; I LOVE YOU cried, Alas!     A"

"This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,     Sails the unshadowed main, -     The venturous bark that flings     On the sweet summer win"

"The folks, that on the first of May     Wore winter coats and hose,     Began to say, the first of June,     "Good Lord! how hot it grows!""

"Perhaps too far in these considerate days     Has patience carried her submissive ways;     Wisdom has taught us to be calm and meek,     To ta"

"I suppose it's myself that you're making allusion to     And bringing the sense of dismay and confusion to.     Of course some must speak, - the"

"While in my simple gospel creed     That "God is Love" so plain I read,     Shall dreams of heathen birth affright     My pathway through the c"

"What is a poet's love? -     To write a girl a sonnet,     To get a ring, or some such thing,     And fustianize upon it.     What is a poet"

""Who claims our Shakespeare from that realm unknown,     Beyond the storm-vexed islands of the deep,     Where Genoa's roving mariner was blown?"

"As I look from the isle, o'er its billows of green,     To the billows of foam-crested blue,     Yon bark, that afar in the distance is seen,"

"This "sentiment" was read on the same occasion as the "Family Record," which immediately follows it. The latter poem is the dutiful tribute of a son t"

"1854     Oh for one hour of youthful joy!     Give back my twentieth spring!     I'd rather laugh, a bright-haired boy,     Than reign, a gray-be"

"If sometimes in the dark blue eye,     Or in the deep red wine,     Or soothed by gentlest melody,     Still warms this heart of mine,     Yet"

"I may not rightly call thy name, -     Alas! thy forehead never knew     The kiss that happier children claim,     Nor glistened with baptisma"

"PHI BETA KAPPA. - CAMBRIDGE, 1867     You bid me sing, - can I forget     The classic ode of days gone by, -     How belle Fifine and jeune Liset"

"The noon of summer sheds its ray     On Harvard's holy ground;     The Matron calls, the sons obey,     And gather smiling round.     CHORUS"

"Thou who hast taught the teachers of mankind     How from the least of things the mightiest grow,     What marvel jealous Nature made thee blind"

"Flag of the heroes who left us their glory,     Borne through their battle-fields' thunder and flame,     Blazoned in song and illumined in stor"

"Where is this patriarch you are kindly greeting?     Not unfamiliar to my ear his name,     Nor yet unknown to many a joyous meeting     In day"

"The stars are rolling in the sky,     The earth rolls on below,     And we can feel the rattling wheel     Revolving as we go.     Then tread"

"The piping of our slender, peaceful reeds     Whispers uncared for while the trumpets bray;     Song is thin air; our hearts' exulting play"

"I saw him once before,     As he passed by the door,     And again     The pavement stones resound,     As he totters o'er the ground     Wit"

"Brave singer of the coming time,     Sweet minstrel of the joyous present,     Crowned with the noblest wreath of rhyme,     The holly-leaf of"