Oliver Wendell Holmes

Earlier Poems (1830-1836) Oliver Wendell Holmes

Book Excerpt: ...ngle ray, Can melt our very hearts away; And both, when balanced, hardly seemTo stir the scales, or rock the beam; But that is dearest, all the while, That wears for us the sweetest smile. MY AUNTMY aunt! my dear unmarried aunt!Long years have o'er her flown; Yet still she strains the aching claspThat binds her virgin zone; I know it hurts her, --though she looksAs cheerful as she can; Her waist is ampler than her life, For life is but a span. My aunt! my poor deluded aunt!Her hair is almost gray; Why will she train that winter curlIn such a spring-like way?How can she lay her glasses down, And say she reads as well, When through a double convex lensShe just makes out to spell?Her father--grandpapa I forgiveThis erring lip its smiles--Vowed she should make the finest girlWithin a hundred miles; He sent her to a stylish school;'T was in her thirteenth J