OLD IRONSIDES

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Y, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;

Beneath it rung the battle shout,

And burst the cannon's roar;

The meteor of the ocean air

Shall sweep the clouds no more!

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,

No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;-
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

O better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!

TO THE HUMMING-BIRD

JONES VERY

CANNOT heal thy green gold breast,
Where deep those cruel teeth have prest,
Nor bid thee raise thy ruffled crest,
And seek thy mate,

Who sits alone within thy nest,
Nor sees thy fate.

No more with him in summer hours
Thou'lt hum amid the leafy bowers,
Nor hover round the dewy flowers,
To feed thy young;

Nor seek, when evening darkly lowers,
Thy nest high hung.

No more thou'lt know a mother's care
Thy honeyed spoils at eve to share,
Nor teach thy tender brood to dare
With upward spring,

Their path through fields of sunny air,
On new-fledged wing.

For thy return in vain shall wait

Thy tender young, thy fond, fond mate,
Till night's last stars beam forth full late
On their sad eyes;

Unknown, alas! thy cruel fate,

Unheard thy cries!

THE BALLAD OF THE TEMPEST

W

JAMES T. FIELDS

E were crowded in the cabin,
Not a soul would dare to sleep-

It was midnight on the waters,
And a storm was on the deep.

'Tis a fearful thing in winter
To be shattered by the blast,
And to hear the rattling trumpet
Thunder, "Cut away the mast!"

So we shuddered there in silence, -
For the stoutest held his breath,
While the hungry sea was roaring,
And the breakers talked with Death.

As thus we sat in darkness,

Each one busy with his prayers,
"We are lost!" the captain shouted,
As he staggered down the stairs.

But his little daughter whispered,
As she took his icy hand,
"Isn't God upon the ocean,
Just the same as on the land?"

Then we kissed the little maiden,
And we spoke in better cheer,
And we anchored safe in harbour
When the morn was shining clear.

Full of a nature

Nothing can tame, Changed every moment, Ever the same;

Ceaseless aspiring,

Ceaseless content,

Darkness or sunshine
Thy element; —

Glorious fountain!

Let my heart be

Fresh, changeful, constant, Upward, like thee!