The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes Part 102

Too young for love?

Ah, say not so!

Tell reddening rose-buds not to blow Wait not for spring to pa.s.s away,-- Love's summer months begin with May!

Too young for love?

Ah, say not so!

Too young? Too young?

Ah, no! no! no!

Too young for love?

Ah, say not so, To practise all love learned in May.

June soon will come with lengthened day While daisies bloom and tulips glow!

Too young for love?

Ah, say not so!

Too young? Too young?

Ah, no! no! no!

THE BROOMSTICK TRAIN; OR, THE RETURN OF THE WITCHES

LOOK out! Look out, boys! Clear the track!

The witches are here! They've all come back!

They hanged them high,--No use! No use!

What cares a witch for a hangman's noose?

They buried them deep, but they wouldn't lie still, For cats and witches are hard to kill; They swore they shouldn't and wouldn't die,-- Books said they did, but they lie! they lie!

A couple of hundred years, or so, They had knocked about in the world below, When an Ess.e.x Deacon dropped in to call, And a homesick feeling seized them all; For he came from a place they knew full well, And many a tale he had to tell.

They longed to visit the haunts of men, To see the old dwellings they knew again, And ride on their broomsticks all around Their wide domain of unhallowed ground.

In Ess.e.x county there's many a roof Well known to him of the cloven hoof; The small square windows are full in view Which the midnight hags went sailing through, On their well-trained broomsticks mounted high, Seen like shadows against the sky; Crossing the track of owls and bats, Hugging before them their coal-black cats.

Well did they know, those gray old wives, The sights we see in our daily drives s.h.i.+mmer of lake and s.h.i.+ne of sea, Browne's bare hill with its lonely tree, (It was n't then as we see it now, With one scant scalp-lock to shade its brow;) Dusky nooks in the Ess.e.x woods, Dark, dim, Dante-like solitudes, Where the tree-toad watches the sinuous snake Glide through his forests of fern and brake; Ipswich River; its old stone bridge; Far off Andover's Indian Ridge, And many a scene where history tells Some shadow of bygone terror dwells,-- Of "Norman's Woe" with its tale of dread, Of the Screeching Woman of Marblehead, (The fearful story that turns men pale Don't bid me tell it,--my speech would fail.)

Who would not, will not, if he can, Bathe in the breezes of fair Cape Ann,-- Rest in the bowers her bays enfold, Loved by the sachems and squaws of old?

Home where the white magnolias bloom, Sweet with the bayberry's chaste perfume, Hugged by the woods and kissed by the sea!

Where is the Eden like to thee?

For that "couple of hundred years, or so,"

There had been no peace in the world below; The witches still grumbling, "It is n't fair; Come, give us a taste of the upper air!

We 've had enough of your sulphur springs, And the evil odor that round them clings; We long for a drink that is cool and nice,-- Great buckets of water with Wenham ice; We've served you well up-stairs, you know; You 're a good old--fellow--come, let us go!"

I don't feel sure of his being good, But he happened to be in a pleasant mood,-- As fiends with their skins full sometimes are,-- (He'd been drinking with "roughs" at a Boston bar.) So what does he do but up and shout To a graybeard turnkey, "Let 'em out!"

To mind his orders was all he knew; The gates swung open, and out they flew.

"Where are our broomsticks?" the beldams cried.

"Here are your broomsticks," an imp replied.

"They 've been in--the place you know--so long They smell of brimstone uncommon strong; But they've gained by being left alone,-- Just look, and you'll see how tall they've grown."

"And where is my cat?" a vixen squalled.

"Yes, where are our cats?" the witches bawled, And began to call them all by name As fast as they called the cats, they came There was bob-tailed Tommy and long-tailed Tim, And wall-eyed Jacky and green-eyed Jim, And splay-foot Benny and slim-legged Beau, And Skinny and Squally, and Jerry and Joe, And many another that came at call,-- It would take too long to count them all.

All black,--one could hardly tell which was which, But every cat knew his own old witch; And she knew hers as hers knew her,-- Ah, didn't they curl their tails and purr!

No sooner the withered hags were free Than out they swarmed for a midnight spree; I couldn't tell all they did in rhymes, But the Ess.e.x people had dreadful times.

The Swampscott fishermen still relate How a strange sea-monster stole their bait; How their nets were tangled in loops and knots, And they found dead crabs in their lobster-pots.

Poor Danvers grieved for her blasted crops, And Wilmington mourned over mildewed hops.

A blight played havoc with Beverly beans,-- It was all the work of those hateful queans!

A dreadful panic began at "Pride's,"

Where the witches stopped in their midnight rides, And there rose strange rumors and vague alarms 'Mid the peaceful dwellers at Beverly Farms.

Now when the Boss of the Beldams found That without his leave they were ramping round, He called,--they could hear him twenty miles, From Chelsea beach to the Misery Isles; The deafest old granny knew his tone Without the trick of the telephone.

"Come here, you witches! Come here!" says he,-- "At your games of old, without asking me!

I'll give you a little job to do That will keep you stirring, you G.o.dless crew!"

They came, of course, at their master's call, The witches, the broomsticks, the cats, and all; He led the hags to a railway train The horses were trying to drag in vain.

"Now, then," says he, "you've had your fun, And here are the cars you've got to run.

The driver may just unhitch his team, We don't want horses, we don't want steam; You may keep your old black cats to hug, But the loaded train you've got to lug."

Since then on many a car you 'll see A broomstick plain as plain can be; On every stick there's a witch astride,-- The string you see to her leg is tied.

She will do a mischief if she can, But the string is held by a careful man, And whenever the evil-minded witch Would cut some caper, he gives a twitch.

As for the hag, you can't see her, But hark! you can hear her black cat's purr, And now and then, as a car goes by, You may catch a gleam from her wicked eye.

Often you've looked on a rus.h.i.+ng train, But just what moved it was not so plain.

It couldn't be those wires above, For they could neither pull nor shove; Where was the motor that made it go You couldn't guess, but now you know.

Remember my rhymes when you ride again On the rattling rail by the broomstick train!

TARTARUS

WHILE in my simple gospel creed That "G.o.d is Love" so plain I read, Shall dreams of heathen birth affright My pathway through the coming night?

Ah, Lord of life, though spectres pale Fill with their threats the shadowy vale, With Thee my faltering steps to aid, How can I dare to be afraid?

Shall mouldering page or fading scroll Outface the charter of the soul?

Shall priesthood's palsied arm protect The wrong our human hearts reject, And smite the lips whose shuddering cry Proclaims a cruel creed a lie?

The wizard's rope we disallow Was justice once,--is murder now!

Is there a world of blank despair, And dwells the Omnipresent there?

Does He behold with smile serene The shows of that unending scene, Where sleepless, hopeless anguish lies, And, ever dying, never dies?

Say, does He hear the sufferer's groan, And is that child of wrath his own?

O mortal, wavering in thy trust, Lift thy pale forehead from the dust!

The mists that cloud thy darkened eyes Fade ere they reach the o'erarching skies When the blind heralds of despair Would bid thee doubt a Father's care, Look up from earth, and read above On heaven's blue tablet, G.o.d IS LOVE!

AT THE TURN OF THE ROAD