And, beating on their prison bars,
Our spirits ask more room,
And with unanswered questionings,
They pierce beyond the tomb.
Then say thou not, oh, doubtful heart!
There is no life to come:
That in some tearless, cloudless land;
Thou shalt not find thy home.
* * * * *
=_Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-._= (Manual, pp. 478, 520.)
From his Poems.
=_378._= THE LAST LEAF.
I saw him once before,
As he passed by the door,
And again
The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o'er the ground
With his cane.
My grandmamma has said,--
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago,--
That he had a Roman nose,
And his cheek was like a rose
In the snow.
But now his nose is thin,
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff,
And a crook is in his back.
And a melancholy crack
In his laugh.
I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here;
But the old three-cornered hat,
And the breeches, and all that,
Are so queer!
And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,--
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.
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