Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How to address him? Awkward, it is true Last Line: North, south, east, west, from all and everywhere! Subject(s): Hayes, Rutherford B. (1822-1893) | ||||||||
HOW to address him? awkward, it is true: Call him "Great Father," as the Red Men do? Borrow some title? this is not the place That christens men Your Highness and Your Grace; We tried such names as these awhile, you know, But left them off a century ago. His Majesty? We've had enough of that: Besides, that needs a crown; he wears a hat. What if, to make the nicer ears content, We say His Honesty, the President? Sir, we believed you honest, truthful, brave, When to your hands their precious trust we gave, And we have found you better than we knew, Braver, and not less honest, not less true! So every heart has opened, every hand Tingles with welcome, and through all the land All voices greet you in one broad acclaim, Healer of strife! Has earth a nobler name? What phrases mean you do not need to learn; We must be civil, and they serve our turn: "Your most obedient humble" means -- means what? Something the well-bred signer just is not. Yet there are tokens, sir, you must believe; There is one language never can deceive: The lover knew it when the maiden smiled; The mother knows it when she clasps her child; Voices may falter, trembling lips turn pale, Words grope and stumble; this will tell their tale Shorn of all rhetoric, bare of all pretence, But radiant, warm, with Nature's eloquence. Look in our eyes! Your welcome waits you there, -- North, South, East, West, from all and everywhere! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 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 |
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