DANVERS, 1866 <br /> <br />BANKRUPT! our pockets inside out! <br />Empty of words to speak his praises! <br />Worcester and Webster up the spout! <br />Dead broke of laudatory phrases! <br />Yet why with flowery speeches tease, <br />With vain superlatives distress him? <br />Has language better words than these? <br />THE FRIEND OF ALL HIS RACE, GOD BLESS HIM! <br /> <br />A simple prayer--but words more sweet <br />By human lips were never uttered, <br />Since Adam left the country seat <br />Where angel wings around him fluttered. <br />The old look on with tear-dimmed eyes, <br />The children cluster to caress him, <br />And every voice unbidden cries, <br />THE FRIEND OF ALL HIS RACE, GOD BLESS HIM!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-george-peabody/
