Songs In Many Keys

Project Gutenberg EBook The Poetical Works of O. W. Holmes,
Volume 4. Songs in Many Keys
#18 in our series by Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Sr.
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Title: The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Volume 4.
Songs in Many Keys
Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Release Date: January, 2005 [Etext #7391]
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[Most recently updated: April 22, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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0. START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETRY OF O.
W. HOLMES, V4 ***
This eBook was produced by David Widger [[email protected]
]
THE POETICAL WORKS
OF
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
1893
(Printed in three volumes)
CONTENTS:
PROLOGUE
AGNES
THE PLOUGHMAN
SPRING
THE
STUDY
THE BELLS
NON-RESISTANCE
THE MORAL
BULLY
THE MIND'S DIET
OUR LIMITATIONS
THE
OLD PLAYER
A POEM DEDICATION OF THE PITTSFIELD
CEMETERY, SEPTEMBER 9,1850 TO GOVERNOR SWAIN

TO AN ENGLISH FRIEND
AFTER A LECTURE ON
WORDSWORTH
AFTER A LECTURE ON MOORE
AFTER
A LECTURE ON KEATS
AFTER A LECTURE ON SHELLEY

AT THE CLOSE OF A COURSE OF LECTURES
THE
HUDSON
THE NEW EDEN
SEMI-CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION OF THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY, NEW
YORK, DECEMBER 22,1855
FAREWELL TO J. R. LOWELL

FOR THE MEETING OF THE BURNS CLUB, 1856
ODE
FOR WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY
BIRTHDAY OF DANIEL
WEBSTER
THE VOICELESS
THE TWO STREAMS
THE
PROMISE
AVIS
THE LIVING TEMPLE
AT A BIRTHDAY
FESTIVAL: TO J. R. LOWELL
A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO J.
F. CLARKE
THE GRAY CHIEF
THE LAST LOOK: W. W.
SWAIN
IN MEMORY OF CHARLES WENTWORTH UPHAM,
JR.

MARTHA
MEETING OF THE ALUMNI OF HARVARD

COLLEGE
THE PARTING SONG
FOR THE MEETING OF
THE NATIONAL SANITARY ASSOCIATION
FOR THE
BURNS CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION,
AT A MEETING OF
FRIENDS
BOSTON COMMON: THREE PICTURES
THE
OLD MAN OF THE SEA
INTERNATIONAL ODE
VIVE LA
FRANCE
BROTHER JONATHAN'S LAMENT FOR SISTER
CAROLINE
SONGS IN MANY KEYS
1849-1861
PROLOGUE
THE piping of our slender, peaceful reeds
Whispers uncared for
while the trumpets bray;
Song is thin air; our hearts' exulting play

Beats time but to the tread of marching deeds,
Following the mighty
van that Freedom leads,
Her glorious standard flaming to the day!

The crimsoned pavement where a hero bleeds
Breathes nobler lessons
than the poet's lay.
Strong arms, broad breasts, brave hearts, are better
worth
Than strains that sing the ravished echoes dumb.
Hark! 't is
the loud reverberating drum
Rolls o'er the prairied West, the
rock-bound North
The myriad-handed Future stretches forth
Its
shadowy palms. Behold, we come,--we come!
Turn o'er these idle leaves. Such toys as these
Were not unsought for,
as, in languid dreams,
We lay beside our lotus-feeding streams,

And nursed our fancies in forgetful ease.
It matters little if they pall
or please,
Dropping untimely, while the sudden gleams
Glare from
the mustering clouds whose blackness seems
Too swollen to hold its
lightning from the trees.
Yet, in some lull of passion, when at last

These calm revolving moons that come and go--
Turning our months
to years, they creep so slow--
Have brought us rest, the not
unwelcome past
May flutter to thee through these leaflets, cast
On

the wild winds that all around us blow.
May 1, 1861.
AGNES
The story of Sir Harry Frankland and Agnes Surriage is told in the
ballad with a very strict adhesion to the facts. These were obtained
from information afforded me by the Rev. Mr. Webster, of Hopkinton,
in company with whom I visited the Frankland Mansion in that town,
then standing; from a very interesting Memoir, by the Rev. Elias Nason,
of Medford; and from the manuscript diary of Sir Harry, or more
properly Sir Charles Henry Frankland, now in the library of the
Massachusetts Historical Society.
At the time of the visit referred to, old Julia was living, and on our
return we called at the house where she resided.--[She was living June
10, 1861, when this ballad was published]--Her account is little more
than paraphrased in the poem. If the incidents are treated with a certain
liberality at the close of the fifth part, the essential fact