The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Vol. 3, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
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Title: The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Vol. 3
Medical Poems
Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Release Date: September 30, 2004 [EBook #7390]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETRY OF HOLMES, VOL. 3 ***
Produced by David Widger
THE POETICAL WORKS
OF
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
[1893 three volume set]
MEDICAL POEMS
THE MORNING VISIT
THE TWO ARMIES
THE STETHOSCOPE SONG
EXTRACTS FROM A MEDICAL POEM
A POEM FOR THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
AT NEW YORK, MAY 5, 1853
A SENTIMENT
RIP VAN WINKLE, M. D.
THE MORNING VISIT
A sick man's chamber, though it often boast
The grateful presence of a literal toast,
Can hardly claim, amidst its various wealth,
The right unchallenged to propose a health;
Yet though its tenant is denied the feast,
Friendship must launch his sentiment at least,
As prisoned damsels, locked from lovers' lips,
Toss them a kiss from off their fingers' tips.
The morning visit,--not till sickness falls
In the charmed circles of your own safe walls;
Till fever's throb and pain's relentless rack
Stretch you all helpless on your aching back;
Not till you play the patient in your turn,
The morning visit's mystery shall you learn.
'T is a small matter in your neighbor's case,
To charge your fee for showing him your face;
You skip up-stairs, inquire, inspect, and touch,
Prescribe, take leave, and off to twenty such.
But when at length, by fate's transferred decree,
The visitor becomes the visitee,
Oh, then, indeed, it pulls another string;
Your ox is gored, and that's a different thing!
Your friend is sick: phlegmatic as a Turk,
You write your recipe and let it work;
Not yours to stand the shiver and the frown,
And sometimes worse, with which your draught goes down.
Calm as a clock your knowing hand directs,
_Rhei, jalapae ana gr
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