Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RHYMES OF A LIFE-TIME by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Poet Analysis

First Line: FROM THE FIRST GLEAM OF MORNING TO THE GRAY
Last Line: WITH PLAINTIVE MEASURES FROM A WORN-OUT LYRE.
FROM the first gleam of morning to the gray
Of peaceful evening, lo, a life unrolled!
In woven pictures all its changes told,
Its lights, its shadows, every flitting ray,
Till the long curtain, falling, dims the day,
Steals from the dial's disk the sunlight's gold,
And all the graven hours grow dark and cold
Where late the glowing blaze of noontide lay.
Ah! the warm blood runs wild in youthful veins, --
Let me no longer play with painted fire;
New songs for new-born days! I would not tire
The listening ears that wait for fresher strains
In phrase new - moulded, new - forged rhythmic chains,
With plaintive measures from a worn-out lyre.



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