| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | October 7 | | Oliver Wendell Holmes | | By William Hamilton Hayne (1856–1929) |
| | (Died October 7, 1894)
ASLEEP at last! For fourscore years | |
| He toiled among his fellow men, | |
| And reaped in Thought’s imperial fields | |
| A golden harvest of the pen. | |
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| Asleep at last! yet strangely near! | 5 |
| On many a magic page we find, | |
| In deathless sheaves of prose or verse, | |
| The garnered fruitage of his mind. | |
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| Asleep at last! His happy muse | |
| Awoke all measures, brave and bright, | 10 |
| And seemed to love’s enamored eyes | |
| Vibrating with the morning light. | |
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| Asleep at last! In nobler strains, | |
| Possessed of more than rhythmic art, | |
| We felt the master’s finger touch | 15 |
| The secret harpstring of the heart. | |
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| Asleep at last! and yet awake! | |
| For he has reached the far off goal, | |
| And passed the stormy reefs of Death | |
| To shining waters of the Soul. | 20 | | | |
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