BEFORE HIS DEPARTURE FOR EUROPE, MAY 27, 1868 OUR Poet, who has taught the Western breeze To waft his songs before him o’er the seas, Will find them wheresoe’er his wanderings reach Borne on the spreading tide of English speech Twin with the rhythmic waves that kiss the farthest beach. Where shall the singing bird […]

FOR HIS “JUBILAEUM” AT BERLIN, NOVEMBER 5, 1868 This poem was written at the suggestion of Mr. George Bancroft, the historian. THOU who hast taught the teachers of mankind How from the least of things the mightiest grow, What marvel jealous Nature made thee blind, Lest man should learn what angels long to know? Thou […]

FEBRUARY 16, 1874 THE painter’s and the poet’s fame Shed their twinned lustre round his name, To gild our story-teller’s art, Where each in turn must play his part. What scenes from Wilkie’s pencil sprung, The minstrel saw but left unsung! What shapes the pen of Collins drew, No painter clad in living hue! But […]

CAMBRIDGE, JULY 21, 1865 FOUR summers coined their golden light in leaves, Four wasteful autumns flung them to the gale, Four winters wore the shroud the tempest weaves, The fourth wan April weeps o’er hill and vale; And still the war-clouds scowl on sea and land, With the red gleams of battle staining through, When […]

APRIL 23, 1864 “Who claims our Shakespeare from that realm unknown, Beyond the storm-vexed islands of the deep, Where Genoa’s roving mariner was blown? Her twofold Saint’s-day let our England keep; Shall warring aliens share her holy task?” The Old World echoes ask. O land of Shakespeare! ours with all thy past, Till these last […]

“OUR FIRST CITIZEN” Read at the meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, January 30, 1865. WINTER’S cold drift lies glistening o’er his breast; For him no spring shall bid the leaf unfold What Love could speak, by sudden grief oppressed, What swiftly summoned Memory tell, is told. Even as the bells, in one consenting chime, […]

Read at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Society, May 25, 1864. No mystic charm, no mortal art, Can bid our loved companions stay; The bands that clasp them to our heart Snap in death’s frost and fall apart; Like shadows fading with the day, They pass away. The young are stricken in their […]

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, SEPTEMBER 14, 1869 BONAPARTE, AUGUST 15, 1769.-HUMBOLDT, SEPTEMBER 14, 1769 ERE yet the warning chimes of midnight sound, Set back the flaming index of the year, Track the swift-shifting seasons in their round Through fivescore circles of the swinging sphere! Lo, in yon islet of the midland sea That cleaves the storm-cloud with […]

JULY 8, 1869 SAY not the Poet dies! Though in the dust he lies, He cannot forfeit his melodious breath, Unsphered by envious death! Life drops the voiceless myriads from its roll; Their fate he cannot share, Who, in the enchanted air Sweet with the lingering strains that Echo stole, Has left his dearer self, […]

Cambridge, Oct 6, 1870 NOT with the anguish of hearts that are breaking Come we as mourners to weep for our dead; Grief in our breasts has grown weary of aching, Green is the turf where our tears we have shed. While o’er their marbles the mosses are creeping, Stealing each name and its legend […]

APRIL 29, 1874 SUNG BY MALE VOICES TO A NATIONAL AIR OF HOLLAND ONCE more, ye sacred towers, Your solemn dirges sound; Strew, loving hands, the April flowers, Once more to deck his mound. A nation mourns its dead, Its sorrowing voices one, As Israel’s monarch bowed his head And cried, “My son! My son!” […]

JUNE 23, 1874 WHERE, girt around by savage foes, Our nurturing Mother’s shelter rose, Behold, the lofty temple stands, Reared by her children’s grateful hands! Firm are the pillars that defy The volleyed thunders of the sky; Sweet are the summer wreaths that twine With bud and flower our martyrs’ shrine. The hues their tattered […]

ADDRESS FOR THE OPENING OF THE FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 3, 1873 HANG out our banners on the stately tower It dawns at last–the long-expected hour I The steep is climbed, the star-lit summit won, The builder’s task, the artist’s labor done; Before the finished work the herald stands, And asks the verdict […]

BY THE PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF DEAD AND LIVE LANGUAGES PHI BETA KAPPA.–CAMBRIDGE, 1867 You bid me sing,–can I forget The classic ode of days gone by,– How belle Fifine and jeune Lisette Exclaimed, “Anacreon, geron ei”? “Regardez done,” those ladies said,– “You’re getting bald and wrinkled too When summer’s roses all are shed, Love ‘s […]

Cabin Passenger. Man at Wheel. CABIN PASSENGER. FRIEND, you seem thoughtful. I not wonder much That he who sails the ocean should be sad. I am myself reflective. When I think Of all this wallowing beast, the Sea, has sucked Between his sharp, thin lips, the wedgy waves, What heaps of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls; […]

FOR THE CENTENNIAL DINNER OF THE PROPRIETORS OF BOSTON PIER, OR THE LONG WHARF APRIL 16, 1873 DEAR friends, we are strangers; we never before Have suspected what love to each other we bore; But each of us all to his neighbor is dear, Whose heart has a throb for our time-honored pier. As I […]

PHI BETA KAPPA, JUNE 26, 1873 THE Caliph ordered up his cook, And, scowling with a fearful look That meant,–We stand no gammon,– “To-morrow, just at two,” he said, “Hassan, our cook, will lose his head, Or serve us up a salmon.” “Great sire,” the trembling chef replied, “Lord of the Earth and all beside, […]

READ AT THE MEETING OF THE HARVARD ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, JUNE 25, 1873 THE fount the Spaniard sought in vain Through all the land of flowers Leaps glittering from the sandy plain Our classic grove embowers; Here youth, unchanging, blooms and smiles, Here dwells eternal spring, And warm from Hope’s elysian isles The winds their perfume […]

THERE is no time like the old time, when you and I were young, When the buds of April blossomed, and the birds of spring-time sung! The garden’s brightest glories by summer suns are nursed, But oh, the sweet, sweet violets, the flowers that opened first! There is no place like the old place, where […]

SUNG AT THE “JUBILEE,” JUNE 15, 1869, ANGEL of Peace, thou hast wandered too long! Spread thy white wings to the sunshine of love! Come while our voices are blended in song,– Fly to our ark like the storm-beaten dove! Fly to our ark on the wings of the dove,– Speed o’er the far-sounding billows […]