The Boys Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH BBII JJKK LLMN OOPP QQRR SSTT TTAA| HAS there any old fellow got mixed with the boys | A |
| If there has take him out without making a noise | A |
| Hang the Almanac's cheat and the Catalogue's spite | B |
| Old Time is a liar We're twenty to night | B |
| - | |
| We're twenty We're twenty Who says we are more | C |
| He's tipsy young jackanapes show him the door | C |
| Gray temples at twenty Yes white if we please | D |
| Where the snow flakes fall thickest there's nothing can freeze | D |
| - | |
| Was it snowing I spoke of Excuse the mistake | E |
| Look close you will see not a sign of a flake | E |
| We want some new garlands for those we have shed | F |
| And these are white roses in place of the red | F |
| - | |
| We've a trick we young fellows you may have been told | G |
| Of talking in public as if we were old | G |
| That boy we call Doctor and this we call Judge | H |
| It's a neat little fiction of course it's all fudge | H |
| - | |
| That fellow's the Speaker the one on the right | B |
| Mr Mayor my young one how are you to night | B |
| That's our Member of Congress we say when we chaff | I |
| There's the Reverend What's his name don't make me laugh | I |
| - | |
| That boy with the grave mathematical look | J |
| Made believe he had written a wonderful book | J |
| And the ROYAL SOCIETY thought it was true | K |
| So they chose him right in a good joke it was too | K |
| - | |
| There's a boy we pretend with a three decker brain | L |
| That could harness a team with a logical chain | L |
| When he spoke for our manhood in syllabled fire | M |
| We called him The Justice but now he's The Squire | N |
| - | |
| And there's a nice youngster of excellent pith | O |
| Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith | O |
| But he shouted a song for the brave and the free | P |
| Just read on his medal My country of thee | P |
| - | |
| You hear that boy laughing You think he's all fun | Q |
| But the angels laugh too at the good he has done | Q |
| The children laugh loud as they troop to his call | R |
| And the poor man that knows him laughs loudest of all | R |
| - | |
| Yes we're boys always playing with tongue or with pen | S |
| And I sometimes have asked Shall we ever be men | S |
| Shall we always be youthful and laughing and gay | T |
| Till the last dear companion drops smiling away | T |
| - | |
| Then here's to our boyhood its gold and its gray | T |
| The stars of its winter the dews of its May | T |
| And when we have done with our life lasting toys | A |
| Dear Father take care of thy children THE BOYS | A |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Boys
The Boys is a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Boys poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Best Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes