Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
To George PeabodyOliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894)
B
Empty of words to speak his praises!
Worcester and Webster up the spout!
Dead broke of laudatory phrases!
But why with flowery speeches tease,
With vain superlatives distress him?
Has language better words than these?
The friend of all his race, God bless him!
By human lips were never uttered,
Since Adam left the country seat
Where angel wings around him fluttered.
The old look on with tear-dimmed eyes,
The children cluster to caress him,
And every voice unbidden cries,
The friend of all his race, God bless him!