Our Oldest Friend Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KLMM NNBB AAJJ OODD PPJ QQJJ RRSS TTJJ| I GIVE you the health of the oldest friend | A |
| That short of eternity earth can lend | A |
| A friend so faithful and tried and true | B |
| That nothing can wean him from me and you | B |
| - | |
| When first we screeched in the sudden blaze | C |
| Of the daylight's blinding and blasting rays | C |
| And gulped at the gaseous groggy air | D |
| This old old friend stood waiting there | D |
| - | |
| And when with a kind of mortal strife | E |
| We had gasped and choked into breathing life | E |
| He watched by the cradle day and night | F |
| And held our hands till we stood upright | F |
| - | |
| From gristle and pulp our frames have grown | G |
| To stringy muscle and solid bone | G |
| While we were changing he altered not | H |
| We might forget but he never forgot | H |
| - | |
| He came with us to the college class | I |
| Little cared he for the steward's pass | I |
| All the rest must pay their fee | J |
| Put the grim old dead head entered free | J |
| - | |
| He stayed with us while we counted o'er | K |
| Four times each of the seasons four | L |
| And with every season from year to year | M |
| The dear name Classmate he made more dear | M |
| - | |
| He never leaves us he never will | N |
| Till our hands are cold and our hearts are still | N |
| On birthdays and Christmas and New Year's too | B |
| He always remembers both me and you | B |
| - | |
| Every year this faithful friend | A |
| His little present is sure to send | A |
| Every year wheresoe'er we be | J |
| He wants a keepsake from you and me | J |
| - | |
| How he loves us he pats our heads | O |
| And lo they are gleaming with silver threads | O |
| And he 's always begging one lock of hair | D |
| Till our shining crowns have nothing to wear | D |
| - | |
| At length he will tell us one by one | P |
| 'My child your labor on earth is done | P |
| And now you must journey afar to see | J |
| My elder brother Eternity ' | - |
| - | |
| And so when long long years have passed | Q |
| Some dear old fellow will be the last | Q |
| Never a boy alive but he | J |
| Of all our goodly company | J |
| - | |
| When he lies down but not till then | R |
| Our kind Class Angel will drop the pen | R |
| That writes in the day book kept above | S |
| Our lifelong record of faith and love | S |
| - | |
| So here's a health in homely rhyme | T |
| To our oldest classmate Father Time | T |
| May our last survivor live to be | J |
| As bald and as wise and as tough as he | J |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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About Our Oldest Friend
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