The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes Part 111

How few that love us have we found!

How wide the world that girds them round Like mountain streams we meet and part, Each living in the other's heart, Our course unknown, our hope to be Yet mingled in the distant sea.

But Ocean coils and heaves in vain, Bound in the subtle moonbeam's chain; And love and hope do but obey Some cold, capricious planet's ray, Which lights and leads the tide it charms To Death's dark caves and icy arms.

Alas! one narrow line is drawn, That links our sunset with our dawn; In mist and shade life's morning rose, And clouds are round it at its close; But ah! no twilight beam ascends To whisper where that evening ends.

THE POET'S LOT

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's fame?-- Sad hints about his reason, And sadder praise from garreteers, To be returned in season.

Where go the poet's lines?-- Answer, ye evening tapers!

Ye auburn locks, ye golden curls, Speak from your folded papers!

Child of the ploughshare, smile; Boy of the counter, grieve not, Though muses round thy trundle-bed Their broidered tissue weave not.

The poet's future holds No civic wreath above him; Nor slated roof, nor varnished chaise, Nor wife nor child to love him.

Maid of the village inn, Who workest woe on satin, (The gra.s.s in black, the graves in green, The epitaph in Latin,)

Trust not to them who say, In stanzas, they adore thee; Oh rather sleep in churchyard clay, With urn and cherub o'er thee!

TO A BLANK SHEET OF PAPER

WAN-VISAGED thing! thy virgin leaf To me looks more than deadly pale, Unknowing what may stain thee yet,-- A poem or a tale.

Who can thy unborn meaning scan?

Can Seer or Sibyl read thee now?

No,--seek to trace the fate of man Writ on his infant brow.

Love may light on thy snowy cheek, And shake his Eden-breathing plumes; Then shalt thou tell how Lelia smiles, Or Angelina blooms.

Satire may lift his bearded lance, Forestalling Time's slow-moving scythe, And, scattered on thy little field, Disjointed bards may writhe.

Perchance a vision of the night, Some grizzled spectre, gaunt and thin, Or sheeted corpse, may stalk along, Or skeleton may grin.

If it should be in pensive hour Some sorrow-moving theme I try, Ah, maiden, how thy tears will fall, For all I doom to die!

But if in merry mood I touch Thy leaves, then shall the sight of thee Sow smiles as thick on rosy lips As ripples on the sea.

The Weekly press shall gladly stoop To bind thee up among its sheaves; The Daily steal thy shining ore, To gild its leaden leaves.

Thou hast no tongue, yet thou canst speak, Till distant sh.o.r.es shall hear the sound; Thou hast no life, yet thou canst breathe Fresh life on all around.

Thou art the arena of the wise, The noiseless battle-ground of fame; The sky where halos may be wreathed Around the humblest name.

Take, then, this treasure to thy trust, To win some idle reader's smile, Then fade and moulder in the dust, Or swell some bonfire's pile.

TO THE PORTRAIT OF "A GENTLEMAN"

IN THE ATHENIEUM GALLERY

IT may be so,--perhaps thou hast A warm and loving heart; I will not blame thee for thy face, Poor devil as thou art.

That thing thou fondly deem'st a nose, Unsightly though it be,-- In spite of all the cold world's scorn, It may be much to thee.

Those eyes,--among thine elder friends Perhaps they pa.s.s for blue,-- No matter,--if a man can see, What more have eyes to do?

Thy mouth,--that fissure in thy face, By something like a chin,-- May be a very useful place To put thy victual in.

I know thou hast a wife at home, I know thou hast a child, By that subdued, domestic smile Upon thy features mild.

That wife sits fearless by thy side, That cherub on thy knee; They do not shudder at thy looks, They do not shrink from thee.

Above thy mantel is a hook,-- A portrait once was there; It was thine only ornament,-- Alas! that hook is bare.

She begged thee not to let it go, She begged thee all in vain; She wept,--and breathed a trembling prayer To meet it safe again.

It was a bitter sight to see That picture torn away; It was a solemn thought to think What all her friends would say!

And often in her calmer hours, And in her happy dreams, Upon its long-deserted hook The absent portrait seems.

Thy wretched infant turns his head In melancholy wise, And looks to meet the placid stare Of those unbending eyes.

I never saw thee, lovely one,-- Perchance I never may; It is not often that we cross Such people in our way;

But if we meet in distant years, Or on some foreign sh.o.r.e, Sure I can take my Bible oath, I've seen that face before.

THE BALLAD OF THE OYSTERMAN

IT was a tall young oysterman lived by the river-side, His shop was just upon the bank, his boat was on the tide; The daughter of a fisherman, that was so straight and slim, Lived over on the other bank, right opposite to him.

It was the pensive oysterman that saw a lovely maid, Upon a moonlight evening, a sitting in the shade; He saw her wave her handkerchief, as much as if to say, "I 'm wide awake, young oysterman, and all the folks away."

Then up arose the oysterman, and to himself said he, "I guess I 'll leave the skiff at home, for fear that folks should see I read it in the story-book, that, for to kiss his dear, Leander swam the h.e.l.lespont,--and I will swim this here."