New England's green stirs from its Winter sleep And spreads its lawns and ivies everywhere;
The elms, the oaks, and maples rise and keep Their murmuring boughs above the land they share.
Once more the winds with Summer's warmth are crowned, And songs come from the shadows in the trees;
Again the shells of time send forth their sound As youth goes by on wings of wayward breeze.
How dear that pale September night when we Had paused beneath McKean Gate to gaze
Into the Yard's low-branching canopy: What was that Lydian chord whose note still plays?
Day after day our Freshman year seemed long, Our April found the Winter in a trance,
And yet that June our Spring had seemed to throng Until the year was just a backward glance.
And O how short four College years have been: There cloistered years too soon have gone their way
And left their music as the mind's mute din To swell upon occasions as today:
Bear witness, Harvard, your immortal name
Has seen three centuries inscribe your fame
Within the chart of time whose sweep of years
Has left untouched the fringe of your frontiers;
Like tides of mortal seas, the flowing stream
Though time's unceasing ebb and flow still seem
That pulses in your halls had depths profound,
Unfathomed as it moved through worldly ground,
And yet, beneath your Chapel's shadow, you
Sought inmost thoughts and found them ever true.
The seas have ceased their thrumming, and a voice Comes up in rhythmic pulse with tales of cheer;
Matured with warmth of thought, its tones rejoice The depth of friendships lasting and sincere.
Yet who upon this earth can apprehend Immortal thoughts when words are grains of sand
The mortal hour glass drops through its bend, Into a shallow grave at His command?
And who dares speak the love we have for you? Our voiceless minds can only feel the tie
Of Veritas that those Ten Thousand knew; We graduate, but that is not good-bye;
We part, yes, with a smile and not a sorrow For we shall meet again beyond tomorrow.
Beyond tomorrow? There the endless day
Inaugurates your reign. O Harvard, may
Eternal morning's sun shine on your name
And foster men as worthy of your fame.
(This page ' printed by permission of the senior Album Committee)
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