THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS 



289 



"AND EVERY CELL BEFORE THEE LIES REVEALED." 



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 wreathed 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. 



Published by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass. 



