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]
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[Most recently updated: April 22, 2003]
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0. 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