1854 OH for one hour of youthful joy! Give back my twentieth spring! I’d rather laugh, a bright-haired boy, Than reign, a gray-beard king. Off with the spoils of wrinkled age! Away with Learning’s crown! Tear out life’s Wisdom-written page, And dash its trophies down! One moment let my life-blood stream From boyhood’s fount of […]

1858 FLASH out a stream of blood-red wine, For I would drink to other days, And brighter shall their memory shine, Seen flaming through its crimson blaze! The roses die, the summers fade, But every ghost of boyhood’s dream By nature’s magic power is laid To sleep beneath this blood-red stream! It filled the purple […]

1856 You ‘ll believe me, dear boys, ‘t is a pleasure to rise, With a welcome like this in your darling old eyes; To meet the same smiles and to hear the same tone Which have greeted me oft in the years that have flown. Were I gray as the grayest old rat in the […]

1859 HAS there any old fellow got mixed with the boys? If there has, take him out, without making a noise. Hang the Almanac’s cheat and the Catalogue’s spite! Old Time is a liar! We’re twenty to-night! We’re twenty! We’re twenty! Who says we are more? He’s tipsy,–young jackanapes!–show him the door! “Gray temples at […]

1862 THE friends that are, and friends that were, What shallow waves divide! I miss the form for many a year Still seated at my side. I miss him, yet I feel him still Amidst our faithful band, As if not death itself could chill The warmth of friendship’s hand. His story other lips may […]

1861 JANUARY THIRD WE sing “Our Country’s” song to-night With saddened voice and eye; Her banner droops in clouded light Beneath the wintry sky. We’ll pledge her once in golden wine Before her stars have set Though dim one reddening orb may shine, We have a Country yet. ‘T were vain to sigh o’er errors […]

1864 FAST as the rolling seasons bring The hour of fate to those we love, Each pearl that leaves the broken string Is set in Friendship’s crown above. As narrower grows the earthly chain, The circle widens in the sky; These are our treasures that remain, But those are stars that beam on high. We […]

1863 YES, tyrants, you hate us, and fear while you hate The self-ruling, chain-breaking, throne-shaking State! The night-birds dread morning,–your instinct is true,– The day-star of Freedom brings midnight for you! Why plead with the deaf for the cause of mankind? The owl hoots at noon that the eagle is blind! We ask not your […]

1862 ‘T is midnight: through my troubled dream Loud wails the tempest’s cry; Before the gale, with tattered sail, A ship goes plunging by. What name? Where bound?–The rocks around Repeat the loud halloo. –The good ship Union, Southward bound: God help her and her crew! And is the old flag flying still That o’er […]

A HALF-RHYMED IMPROMPTU 1865 LIKE the tribes of Israel, Fed on quails and manna, Sherman and his glorious band Journeyed through the rebel land, Fed from Heaven’s all-bounteous hand, Marching on Savannah! As the moving pillar shone, Streamed the starry banner All day long in rosy light, Flaming splendor all the night, Till it swooped […]

1865 I GIVE you the health of the oldest friend That, short of eternity, earth can lend,– A friend so faithful and tried and true That nothing can wean him from me and you. When first we screeched in the sudden blaze Of the daylight’s blinding and blasting rays, And gulped at the gaseous, groggy […]

1864 Now, men of the North! will you join in the strife For country, for freedom, for honor, for life? The giant grows blind in his fury and spite,– One blow on his forehead will settle the fight! Flash full in his eyes the blue lightning of steel, And stun him with cannon-bolts, peal upon […]

1867 IT is not what we say or sing, That keeps our charm so long unbroken, Though every lightest leaf we bring May touch the heart as friendship’s token; Not what we sing or what we say Can make us dearer to each other; We love the singer and his lay, But love as well […]

1866 How long will this harp which you once loved to hear Cheat your lips of a smile or your eyes of a tear? How long stir the echoes it wakened of old, While its strings were unbroken, untarnished its gold? Dear friends of my boyhood, my words do you wrong; The heart, the heart […]

So the gray Boatswain of ‘Twenty-nine Piped to “The Boys” as they crossed the line; Round the cabin sat thirty guests, Babes of the nurse with a thousand breasts. There were the judges, grave and grand, Flanked by the priests on either hand; There was the lord of wealth untold, And the dear good fellow […]

1869 HERE ‘s the old cruiser, ‘Twenty-nine, Forty times she ‘s crossed the line; Same old masts and sails and crew, Tight and tough and as good as new. Into the harbor she bravely steers Just as she ‘s done for these forty years, Over her anchor goes, splash and clang! Down her sails drop, […]

1868 “Will I come?” That is pleasant! I beg to inquire If the gun that I carry has ever missed fire? And which was the muster-roll-mention but one– That missed your old comrade who carries the gun? You see me as always, my hand on the lock, The cap on the nipple, the hammer full […]

1870 IT may be, yes, it must be, Time that brings An end to mortal things, That sends the beggar Winter in the train Of Autumn’s burdened wain,– Time, that is heir of all our earthly state, And knoweth well to wait Till sea hath turned to shore and shore to sea, If so it […]

1873 THE dirge is played, the throbbing death-peal rung, The sad-voiced requiem sung; On each white urn where memory dwells The wreath of rustling immortelles Our loving hands have hung, And balmiest leaves have strown and tenderest blossoms flung. The birds that filled the air with songs have flown, The wintry blasts have blown, And […]

1869 THOU Gracious Power, whose mercy lends The light of home, the smile of friends, Our gathered flock thine arms infold As in the peaceful days of old. Wilt thou not hear us while we raise, In sweet accord of solemn praise, The voices that have mingled long In joyous flow of mirth and song? […]