Living

Added for the Alumni Meeting

by Oliver Wendell Holmes 1809–1894

From Poems of the Class of '29 (1851–1889)

Living

So the gray Boatswain of 'Twenty-nine
Piped to "The Boys" as they crossed the line;
Round the cabin sat thirty guests,
Babes of the nurse with a thousand breasts.

There were the judges, grave and grand,
Flanked by the priests on either hand;
There was the lord of wealth untold,
And the dear good fellow in broadcloth old.

Thirty men, from twenty towns,
Sires and grandsires with silvered crowns,--
Thirty school-boys all in a row,--
Bens and Georges and Bill and Joe.

In thirty goblets the wine was poured,
But threescore gathered around the board,--
For lo! at the side of every chair
A shadow hovered--we all were there!

MLA

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. “Added for the Alumni Meeting.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/holmes/116/.

Chicago

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. “Added for the Alumni Meeting.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/holmes/116/.

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