 | The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes |  |
353
PRELUDE
NAUSHON ISLAND, NOVEMBER 1864
O thou who lovest best the song
Of bird that never sang in cage,
Such as the wood-notes that belong
To this, our Island Song-book's page!
Of bird that never sang in cage,
Such as the wood-notes that belong
To this, our Island Song-book's page!
O'er its fair field the fancy flits
That never bounden book confined,
And on its perch the warbler sits
Whom leaden chains could never bind.
That never bounden book confined,
And on its perch the warbler sits
Whom leaden chains could never bind.
As when the birds in copse and glen,
From oaken bough and beechen spray,—
Thrush, robin, sparrow, bobolink, wren,
Blackbird and bluebird, finch and jay,—
From oaken bough and beechen spray,—
Thrush, robin, sparrow, bobolink, wren,
Blackbird and bluebird, finch and jay,—
With joyous clamor wake the morn
And startle all the leafy woods,
So thrill those poet-voices, born
In Nature's sea-girt solitudes!
And startle all the leafy woods,
So thrill those poet-voices, born
In Nature's sea-girt solitudes!
Ah, happy seasons, lapsing sweet
Amid those bowers of peace and rest,
Where all the songsters loved to meet
And carol round the king-bird's nest,
Amid those bowers of peace and rest,
Where all the songsters loved to meet
And carol round the king-bird's nest,
Your flowers are dust, your suns have set,
Yet here they still shall bloom and shine,
Till Love and Friendship both forget
They knelt before the Island shrine!
Yet here they still shall bloom and shine,
Till Love and Friendship both forget
They knelt before the Island shrine!
| The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes | |