Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Scarce one tall frigate walks the sea
Or skirts the safer shores
Of all that bore to read more

Scarce one tall frigate walks the sea
Or skirts the safer shores
Of all that bore to victory
Our stout old Commodores.

I firmly believe that if the whole materia medica could be sunk
to the bottom of the sea, it read more

I firmly believe that if the whole materia medica could be sunk
to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind
and all the worse for the fishes.

Vain? Let it be so! Nature was her teacher,
What if a lovely and unsistered creature
Loved read more

Vain? Let it be so! Nature was her teacher,
What if a lovely and unsistered creature
Loved her own harmless gift of pleasing feature.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,

Ay, here her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has read more

Ay, here her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky.