Classic Poem

One fifth of November, when meadows were brown,
And the crimson woods withered round Sudbury town,
Four lads from that city which Holmes calls the best,
At an old tavern met for a whole day of rest.

There was Henry and Austin and William and John,
And the glasses went round as the oak-wood went on,
And the spirit was kindly, the water was hot.
Why, then, should Guy Fawkes and his day be forgot?

He was known in this tavern of old, I expect ,
Though his name, like the turnpike, has come to neglect;
And I guess there was loyalty under this roof —
See! Her Majesty's picture remains for a proof.

But distinction is lost, — the Queen's nobody now,
And a sovereign is not worth a sixpence to Howe,
Though his fathers before him, the constant old carles,
By the name of their monarch did christen the Charles.

There be names on the window-panes written with rings,
When the gentles wore diamonds and all was the king's;
When Joel and Hiram, as still they should do,
Served the punch, my dear Henry, to persons like you.

But the scutcheon is faded that hangs on the wall,
And the hearth looks forlorn in the desolate hall;
And the floor that has bent with the minuet's tread,
It is like a church pavement, — the dancers are dead.

Yet we summoned them back, and recalled ancient times,
And we roused the old Papist, repeating his rhymes,
And, to help on the humor, each man, with his drink,
Gave the best match for Guido of whom he could think.

Well, we thought of all scandalous names that had been,
Cain, Catiline, Borgia, — the bywords of sin, —
Saint Dominic Guzman, Marat, Machiavel, —
Though the splendor of that one we recognized well.

Then Austin propounded — a health to old Nol!
And those Roundheaded rogues whom our speakers extol;
And one mentioned Arnold, and one Aaron Burr,
And that Empress was named in the country of fur.

But we tired of such folk, so, to sweeten our toast
Gave that noblest of bards Massachusetts can boast!
Famous now is this house, in whose halls he hath been,
For his muse hath made sacred old Sudbury Inn!