Some of my Dad's Farorite Poems

He Had To Memorize In School

Not Much Poetry in Schools These Days...

SAD FOR THE SPIRIT!!!

Oliver Wendell Holmes;  c1880

Old Ironsides

(Popular name give to the frigate "Constitution")

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar; -
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee; -
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave:
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!


Felicia D. Hemas; 1794-1835
  Casabianca.
  
     The boy stood on the burning deck,
     Whence all but him had fled;
     The flame that lit the battle's wreck
     Shone round him o'er the dead.