Songs of Many Seasons (1862-74)

ꥐProject Gutenberg EBook The Poetical Works of O. W. Holmes, Volume 7. Songs of Many Seasons?#21 in our series by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
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Title: The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Volume 7.
Songs of Many Seasons
Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Release Date: January, 2005 [Etext #7394]?[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]?[Most recently updated: April 22, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
? START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETRY OF O. W. HOLMES, V7 ***
This eBook was produced by David Widger [[email protected] ]
THE POETICAL WORKS
OF
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
1893
(Printed in three volumes)
CONTENTS:
SONGS OF MANY SEASONS (1862-1874)
OPENING THE WINDOW?PROGRAMME
IN THE QUIET DAYS
AN OLD-YEAR SONG?DOROTHY Q: A FAMILY PORTRAIT?THE ORGAN-BLOWER?AT THE PANTOMIME?AFTER THE FIRE?A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY?NEARING THE SNOW-LINE
IN WAR TIME
TO CANAAN: A PURITAN WAR-SONG?"THUS SAITH THE LORD, I OFFER THEE THREE THINGS"?NEVER OR NOW?ONE COUNTRY?GOD SAVE THE FLAG!?HYMN AFTER THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION?HYMN FOR THE FAIR AT CHICAGO?UNDER THE WASHINGTON ELM, CAMBRIDGE?FREEDOM, OUR QUEEN?ARMY HYMN?PARTING HYMN?THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY?THE SWEET LITTLE MAN?UNION AND LIBERTY
SONGS OF WELCOME AND FAREWELL
AMERICA TO RUSSIA?WELCOME TO THE GRAND DUKE ALEXIS?AT THE BANQUET TO THE GRAND DUKE ALEXIS?AT THE BANQUET TO THE CHINESE EMBASSY?AT THE BANQUET TO THE JAPANESE EMBASSY?BRYANT'S SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY?A FAREWELL TO AGASSIZ?AT A DINNER TO ADMIRAL FARRAGUT?AT A DINNER TO GENERAL GRANT?To H W LONGFELLOW?To CHRISTIAN GOTTFRIED EHRENBERG?A TOAST TO WILKIE COLLINS
MEMORIAL VERSES
FOR THE SERVICES IN MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BOSTON, 1865 FOR THE COMMEMORATION SERVICES, CAMBRIDGE JULY 21, 1865 EDWARD EVERETT: JANUARY 30, 1865?SHAKESPEARE TERCENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, APRIL 23, 1864 IN MEMORY OF JOHN AND ROBERT WARE, MAY 25, 1864?HUMBOLDT'S BIRTHDAY: CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, SEPTEMBER 14, 1869 POEM AT THE DEDICATION OF THE HALLECK MONUMENT, JULY 8, 1869 HYMN FOR THE CELEBRATION AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE OF
HARVARD MEMORIAL HALL, CAMBRIDGE, OCTOBER 6, 1870 HYMN FOR THE DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL HALL AT CAMBRIDGE, 1874 HYMN AT THE FUNERAL SERVICES OF CHARLES SUMNER, APRIL 29, 1874
RHYMES OF AN HOUR
ADDRESS FOR THE OPENING OF THE FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, N. Y. 1873 A SEA DIALOGUE?CHANSON WITHOUT MUSIC?FOR THE CENTENNIAL DINNER, PROPRIETORS OF BOSTON PIER, 1873 A POEM SERVED TO ORDER?THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?No TIME LIKE THE OLD TIME?A HYMN OF PEACE, TO THE MUSIC OF KELLER'S "AMERICAN HYMN"
SONGS OF MANY SEASONS
1862-1874
OPENING THE WINDOW
THUS I lift the sash, so long?Shut against the flight of song;?All too late for vain excuse,--?Lo, my captive rhymes are loose
Rhymes that, flitting through my brain,?Beat against my window-pane,?Some with gayly colored wings,?Some, alas! with venomed stings.
Shall they bask in sunny rays??Shall they feed on sugared praise??Shall they stick with tangled feet?On the critic's poisoned sheet?
Are the outside winds too rough??Is the world not wide enough??Go, my winged verse, and try,--?Go, like Uncle Toby's fly!
PROGRAMME
READER--gentle--if so be?Such still live, and live for me,?Will it please you to be told?What my tenscore pages hold?
Here are verses that in spite?Of myself I needs must write,?Like the wine that oozes first?When the unsqueezed grapes have burst.
Here are angry lines, "too hard!"?Says the soldier, battle-scarred.?Could I smile his scars away?I would blot the bitter lay,
Written with a knitted brow,?Read with placid wonder now.?Throbbed such passion in my heart??Did his wounds once really smart?
Here are varied strains that sing?All the changes life can bring,?Songs when joyous friends have met,?Songs the mourner's tears have wet.
See the banquet's dead bouquet,?Fair and fragrant in its day;?Do they read the selfsame lines,--?He that fasts and he that dines?
Year by year, like milestones placed,?Mark the record Friendship traced.?Prisoned in the walls of time?Life has notched itself in rhyme
As its seasons slid along,?Every year a notch of song,?From the June of long ago,?When the rose was full in blow,
Till the scarlet sage has come?And the cold chrysanthemum.?Read, but not to praise or