The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-10-24
From the Boston Transcript.
A Poem.
ny oLIvER wKspELL HOLMES.


ny oLIvER wKspKLL HOLMES.
Dslivsred at The dedication Of the Pinsfs!d Cent
terry, September g. 1880
Angel of Death! Extend thy silent reign!
stretch thy dark sceptre Ger this new domain!
No sable car along the winding road
Has borne 10 earth lis unreslsting load;
No sudden mound has risen yet 10 show
Where the pale sumberer folds his arms below;
No marble CLEANS TO bid his memory live
In the brief lines that hurfying Time can give;
Yet O Destroyer! From thy shrouded throne
Look on giltj this realm ID all thine own!
Fair il the scene; its sweetness oft beguiled
From their dim paths the children of the wild;
The dark haired maiden loved It's grassy dells,
The feathered warrior claimed It's wooded swells;
Sill on its slopes the poughman's ridges show
The pointed hints that left his fatal bow,
Clipped with rough art and slow barbarian TOLL
Last of his wrecks that strews the alien soil!
Here spread the fields that waved their rpened store
Till the brown arms Of labor held no more;
The sc ythes broad meadow with it's dusky blush;
The sickles harvest with its velvet flush;
The green. haired maize, her silken tresses laid,
In soft luxuriance, on her harsh brocade;
The gourd that swells beneath her tossing plume;
The coarser wheat that rolls In lakes OF bloom,-
Its coral stems and milk white flowers alive
With the wide Inurmurs of the scattered hive;
The glossy apple with the pencllIed streak
Of morning painted on its southern cheek;
The pear long necklace strung with golden drops,
Arched, like the banyan, DER its hasty props;
The humble roots that paid the laborer's care
With the cheap luxuries wealth consents 10 spare;
The healing herbs whose virtues could not save
The hand that reared them from the neighboring
grave.
Yet ali its varied charms, forever free
From task and tribute, Labor yields to thee;
No more when April sheds her fitful rain
The sewers hand shall cast its flying grain;
No more when Autumn strews the flaming leaves
The reapers band shall grid its yellow sheayes;
For thee alike the circling seasons flow
Till the first blossoms heave the latest snow.
In the stiff cod below the whrling drifts,
In the loose soil the springing heritage lifts,
In the hot dust beneath the parching weeds
LIES willing flower shall drop its shrivelled seeds;
Its germ entranced in thy Undertaking. sleep
Till what thou sowest mghtier angels reap
Spirit of Beauty Let thy graces blend
With loveiiest Nature all that Art can lend.
Come from the bowers where Summers life blood
flows
Through the red lips Of June's halfopen rose,
Dressed in bright hues, the loving sunshine dover
For tranquil Nature owns no mourning Hover.
Come from the forest where the beechs screen
Bars the fierce onbcam with its flakes OF green;
Stay the rude axe that bears the sbadowy plans
Sanch the deep wound that dries the naples veins.
Come with the stream whose silver braided rllls
Fling their unclasping bracelets from the hills,
Till III one CLEAN, beneath the forests wings,
Melts the white glitter of hundred springs.
Come from the sleeps where look majestic forth
From their twin thrones the Giants of the North
On the huge shapes that, crouching at their knees,
Stretch their broad shoulders, rough with shaggy
trees.
Through the wide waste of ether, not in vain
Their softened gaze shall reach our distant plain;
There while the mourner turns his aching eyes
On the blue mounds that paint the bluer skies,
Nature shall whisper that the fading view
OF mightiest grief NAV wear a heavenly hue.
Cherub OF wisdom Let thy marble page
Leave its sad lesson new TO every age;
Teach Us to live, not grudging every breath
To the chill! winds that watt us on to death,
But ruling calmly every pulse itwarms,
And tempering gently every word 1t iocms.
SeraPh Oh LoFe' III hedNeh auuot,ins Noi'
Nearest OF al ar4uhu tne oeiiit d li,oile $500
That soon shall hold in Its dreamless bed,
With the low wh5per-Who shall first be laid
In the dark chambers yet unbroken shadef
Let thy sweet radiance shine rekindled here,