FEATURED POEM
The Chambered Nautilus

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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(Issue 5; posted April 4, 1997; archived April 18, 1997)

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,: Sails the unshadowed main, --; The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,: And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;: Wrecked is the ship of pearl!; And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,: Before thee lies revealed,--
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!
Year after year beheld the silent toil: That spread his lustrous coil;; Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft steps its shining archway through,: Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.
Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,: Child of the wandering sea,; Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!: While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings --
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,: As the swift seasons roll!; Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,: Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) was an American professor, doctor, author, poet and man of letters. His son (Jr.) was a Supreme Court Justice in the early 20th century.