Oliver Wendell Holmes Poems

WHEN legislators keep the law,
When banks dispense with bolts and looks,
When berries--whortle, rasp, and straw--
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FOUR summers coined their golden light in leaves,
Four wasteful autumns flung them to the gale,
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Sent to 'The Philological Circle' of Florence for its
meeting in commemoration of Dante, January 27, 1881,
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Ye who yourselves of larger worth esteem
Than common mortals, listen to my dream,
and learn the lesson of life's cozening cheat,
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WHEN Eve had led her lord away,
And Cain had killed his brother,
The stars and flowers, the poets say,
Agreed with one another.
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LISTEN, young heroes! your country is calling!
Time strikes the hour for the brave and the true!
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WINTER'S cold drift lies glistening o'er his breast;
For him no spring shall bid the leaf unfold
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A CRAZY bookcase, placed before
A low-price dealer's open door;
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FROM the first gleam of morning to the gray
Of peaceful evening, lo, a life unrolled!
In woven pictures all its changes told,
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THOUGH watery deserts hold apart
The worlds of East and West,
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