Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHAT WE ALL THINK, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: That age was older once than now Last Line: Can burn or blot it: god is love! Subject(s): God | ||||||||
THAT age was older once than now, In spite of locks untimely shed, Or silvered on the youthful brow; That babes make love and children wed. That sunshine had a heavenly glow, Which faded with those "good old days" When winters came with deeper snow, And autumns with a softer haze. That -- mother, sister, wife, or child -- The "best of women" each has known. Were school-boys ever half so wild? How young the grandpapas have grown! That but for this our souls were free, And but for that our lives were blest; That in some season yet to be Our cares will leave us time to rest. Whene'er we groan with ache or pain, -- Some common ailment of the race, -- Though doctors think the matter plain, -- That ours is "a peculiar case." That when like babes with fingers burned We count one bitter maxim more, Our lesson all the world has learned, And men are wiser than before. That when we sob o'er fancied woes, The angels hovering overhead Count every pitying drop that flows, And love us for the tears we shed. That when we stand with tearless eye And turn the beggar from our door They still approve us when we sigh, "Ah, had I but one thousand more!" Though temples crowd the crumbled brink O'erhanging truth's eternal flow, Their tablets bold with what we think, Their echoes dumb to what we know; That one unquestioned text we read, All doubt beyond, all fear above, Nor crackling pile nor cursing creed Can burn or blot it: GOD IS LOVE! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MOUNTAIN IS STRIPPED by DAVID IGNATOW AS CLOSE AS BREATHING by MARK JARMAN UNHOLY SONNET 1 by MARK JARMAN UNHOLY SONNET 13 by MARK JARMAN BIRTH-DUES by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE SILENT SHEPHERDS by ROBINSON JEFFERS GOING TO THE HORSE FLATS by ROBINSON JEFFERS A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES |
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