Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LINES BY A CLERK, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oh! I did love her dearly Last Line: And not the hand that bore it. | ||||||||
OH! I did love her dearly, And gave her toys and rings, And I thought she meant sincerely, When she took my pretty things. But her heart has grown as icy As a fountain in the fall, And her love, that was so spicy, It did not last at all. I gave her once a locket, It was filled with my own hair, And she put it in her pocket With very special care. But a jeweller has got it, -- He offered it to me, -- And another that is not it Around her neck I see. For my cooings and my billings I do not now complain, But my dollars and my shillings Will never come again; They were earned with toil and sorrow, But I never told her that, And now I have to borrow, And want another hat. Think, think, thou cruel Emma, When thou shalt hear my woe, And know my sad dilemma, That thou hast made it so. See, see my beaver rusty, Look, look upon this hole, This coat is dim and dusty; Oh let it rend thy soul! Before the gates of fashion I daily bent my knee, But I sought the shrine of passion, And found my idol, -- thee. Though never love intenser Had bowed a soul before it, Thine eye was on the censer, And not the hand that bore it. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SEA DIALOGUE by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES A SUN-DAY HYMN [OR LAMENT] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES AFTER A LECTURE ON KEATS by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES BILL AND JOE by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES BIRTHDAY OF DANIEL WEBSTER by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES BOSTON COMMON: 1630 by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES BOSTON COMMON: 1774 by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES BOSTON COMMON: 1869 by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES BROTHER JONATHAN'S LAMENT FOR SISTER CAROLINE [DECEMBER 2O, 1860] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES CACOETHES SCRIBENDI by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES |
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