FOR HER GOLDEN WEDDING, OCTOBER 18, 1875 <br /> <br />'Lucy.'--The old familiar name <br />Is now, as always, pleasant, <br />Its liquid melody the same <br />Alike in past or present; <br />Let others call you what they will, <br />I know you'll let me use it; <br />To me your name is Lucy still, <br />I cannot bear to lose it. <br /> <br />What visions of the past return <br />With Lucy's image blended! <br />What memories from the silent urn <br />Of gentle lives long ended! <br />What dreams of childhood's fleeting morn, <br />What starry aspirations, <br />That filled the misty days unborn <br />With fancy's coruscations! <br /> <br />Ah, Lucy, life has swiftly sped <br />From April to November; <br />The summer blossoms all are shed <br />That you and I remember; <br />But while the vanished years we share <br />With mingling recollections, <br />How all their shadowy features wear <br />The hue of old affections! <br /> <br />Love called you. He who stole your heart <br />Of sunshine half bereft us; <br />Our household's garland fell apart <br />The morning that you left us; <br />The tears of tender girlhood streamed <br />Through sorrow's opening sluices; <br />Less sweet our garden's roses seemed, <br />Less blue its flower-de-luces. <br /> <br />That old regret is turned to smiles, <br />That parting sigh to greeting; <br />I send my heart-throb fifty miles <br />Through every line 't is beating; <br />God grant you many and happy years, <br />Till when the last has crowned you <br />The dawn of endless day appears, <br />And heaven is shining round you!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lucy-11/
