Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes

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    Our ancient church! its lowly tower,
    Beneath the loftier spire,
    Is shadowed when the sunset hour
    Clothes the tall shaft in fire;
    It sinks beyond the distant eye
    Long ere the glittering vane,
    High wheeling in the western sky,
    Has faded o'er the plain.

    Like Sentinel and Nun, they keep
    Their vigil on the green;
    One seems to guard, and one to weep,
    The dead that lie between;
    And both roll out, so full and near,
    Their music's mingling waves,
    They shake the grass, whose pennoned spear
    Leans on the narrow graves.

    The stranger parts the flaunting weeds,
    Whose seeds the winds have strown
    So thick, beneath the line he reads,
    They shade the sculptured stone;
    The child unveils his clustered brow,
    And ponders for a while
    The graven willow's pendent bough,
    Or rudest cherub's smile.

    But what to them the dirge, the knell?
    These were the mourner's share, - 
    The sullen clang, whose heavy swell
    Throbbed through the beating air;
    The rattling cord, the rolling stone,
    The shelving sand that slid,
    And, far beneath, with hollow tone
    Rung on the coffin's lid.

    The slumberer's mound grows fresh and green,
    Then slowly disappears;
    The mosses creep, the gray stones lean,
    Earth hides his date and years;
    But, long before the once-loved name
    Is sunk or worn away,
    No lip the silent dust may claim,
    That pressed the breathing clay.

    Go where the ancient pathway guides,
    See where our sires laid down
    Their smiling babes, their cherished brides,
    The patriarchs of the town;
    Hast thou a tear for buried love?
    A sigh for transient power?
    All that a century left above,
    Go, read it in an hour!

    The Indian's shaft, the Briton's ball,
    The sabre's thirsting edge,
    The hot shell, shattering in its fall,
    The bayonet's rending wedge, - 
    Here scattered death; yet, seek the spot,
    No trace thine eye can see,
    No altar, - and they need it not
    Who leave their children free!

    Look where the turbid rain-drops stand
    In many a chiselled square;
    The knightly crest, the shield, the brand
    Of honored names were there; - 
    Alas! for every tear is dried
    Those blazoned tablets knew,
    Save when the icy marble's side
    Drips with the evening dew.

    Or gaze upon yon pillared stone,
    The empty urn of pride;
    There stand the Goblet and the Sun, - 
    What need of more beside?
    Where lives the memory of the dead,
    Who made their tomb a toy?
    Whose ashes press that nameless bed?
    Go, ask the village boy!

    Lean o'er the slender western wall,
    Ye ever-roaming girls;
    The breath that bids the blossom fall
    May lift your floating curls,
    To sweep the simple lines that tell
    An exile's date and doom;
    And sigh, for where his daughters dwell,
    They wreathe the stranger's tomb.

    And one amid these shades was born,
    Beneath this turf who lies,
    Once beaming as the summer's morn,
    That closed her gentle eyes;
    If sinless angels love as we,
    Who stood thy grave beside,
    Three seraph welcomes waited thee,
    The daughter, sister, bride.

    I wandered to thy buried mound
    When earth was hid below
    The level of the glaring ground,
    Choked to its gates with snow,
    And when with summer's flowery waves
    The lake of verdure rolled,
    As if a Sultan's white-robed slaves
    Had scattered pearls and gold.

    Nay, the soft pinions of the air,
    That lift this trembling tone,
    Its breath of love may almost bear
    To kiss thy funeral stone;
    And, now thy smiles have passed away,
    For all the joy they gave,
    May sweetest dews and warmest ray
    Lie on thine early grave!

    When damps beneath and storms above
    Have bowed these fragile towers,
    Still o'er the graves yon locust grove
    Shall swing its Orient flowers;
    And I would ask no mouldering bust,
    If e'er this humble line,
    Which breathed a sigh o'er other's dust,
    Might call a tear on mine.

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Type of Poem: Elegy

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: This poem is a profound meditation on mortality, memory, and time. The poem's structure, a series of contemplative moments set in a graveyard, facilitates a deep engagement with these themes. Grave markers, nature, and artifacts of human life are all observed with a powerful sense of the impermanence of life and the inevitability of death. The tone is one of melancholic acceptance, underscored by the lyrical and evocative language employed throughout.

The poet makes effective use of imagery and symbolism to evoke a poignant sense of the passage of time and the fading of memory. Monuments and grave markers erode, names become unreadable, and the dead are forgotten as time moves on. Yet, the poem also communicates a sense of resilience and continuity. Despite the decay and the forgetting, the church still stands, the grass still grows, and the cycle of life continues.

A noteworthy literary device in this poem is the personification of the church and the tower as Sentinel and Nun, serving as guardians and mourners of the dead. This gives the poem an almost spiritual quality, suggesting a kind of sacredness in remembering and honoring the past.

Overall, the poem offers a thoughtful and moving exploration of the human condition, inviting readers to reflect on the transient nature of life and the enduring power of memory and love.