 | The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes |  |
SONG AT THE HUNT
NAUSHON ISLAND
SEPTEMBER 21, 1857
As o'er the goblets crystal brink
The rosy blood is rushing
Our lips must have a health to drink
To save our cheeks from blushing
The rosy blood is rushing
Our lips must have a health to drink
To save our cheeks from blushing
We shall not pledge our young tonight
If We've our wits about us
Their blood is warm, their hearts are light
They're well enough without us
If We've our wits about us
Their blood is warm, their hearts are light
They're well enough without us
The old! what simpletons are they
That leave their youth behind them?
We drink their better sense—but stay!
We don't know where to find them.
That leave their youth behind them?
We drink their better sense—but stay!
We don't know where to find them.
The ladies? shall our goblets ring
For mothers wives & daughters?
Our hearts, without the “Eagles Wing”
Have flown across the waters
For mothers wives & daughters?
Our hearts, without the “Eagles Wing”
Have flown across the waters
And as the river holds the skies
With all their starry splendor
Each cup is bright with beaming eyes
As pure, as true, as tender.
With all their starry splendor
Each cup is bright with beaming eyes
As pure, as true, as tender.
But look in silence on the wine
For if the word were spoken
The liquid mirror where they shine
Would be forever broken
For if the word were spoken
The liquid mirror where they shine
Would be forever broken
So then for fear We die of thirst
Before we lift the sluices
We'll drink the health that mingles first,
With summer's golden juices
Before we lift the sluices
We'll drink the health that mingles first,
With summer's golden juices
The Youth that holds his court today
And spreads his household banner
Long live the gallant, generous gay
Lord of the Ocean Manor!
And spreads his household banner
Long live the gallant, generous gay
Lord of the Ocean Manor!
Though like the Island where he reigns
His frame by fate is anchored
Love still runs laughing through the veins
That rust has never cankered.
His frame by fate is anchored
Love still runs laughing through the veins
That rust has never cankered.
And like the rock that breasts the sea
Life's sunlit waves shall find him
Till Heaven's soft whisper sets him free
And Angel hands unbind him.
Life's sunlit waves shall find him
Till Heaven's soft whisper sets him free
And Angel hands unbind him.
| The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes | |