Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the — Volume 09: the Iron Gate and Other Poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes
page 55 of 67 (82%)
page 55 of 67 (82%)
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Hushed all their golden strings;
One lay the coldest bosom fires, One song, one only, never tires While sweet-voiced memory sings. No spot so lone but echo knows That dear familiar strain; In tropic isles, on arctic snows, Through burning lips its music flows And rings its fond refrain. From Pisa's tower my straining sight Roamed wandering leagues away, When lo! a frigate's banner bright, The starry blue, the red, the white, In far Livorno's bay. Hot leaps the life-blood from my heart, Forth springs the sudden tear; The ship that rocks by yonder mart Is of my land, my life, a part,-- Home, home, sweet home, is here! Fades from my view the sunlit scene,-- My vision spans the waves; I see the elm-encircled green, The tower,--the steeple,--and, between, The field of ancient graves. There runs the path my feet would tread |
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