Kate Harrington

1831 - 1917 / Allegheny City, Pennsylvania

O! And Oh!

O ! the enchanting hues that rise
To deck the morn's young features !
Oh ! see what clouds obscure the skies !
Oh ! back ! ye gloomy creatures !

O ! who's the churl that can refrain
From prospects so delightful!
Oh! tempest! lightning! thunder! rain!
How dreary ! Oh ! how frightful!

O ! pleasant 'tis at sea to view
The bright horizon round you !
Oh ! where' s the ship ! The storms burst through !
The raging waves have found you !

O ! grateful are the strains that pour
From every grove and bower !
Oh ! quaking is that thunder's roar !
It comes with deafening power !

O ! blooming as the rosy skies
That fair one's glowing beauty !
Oh ! loathsome those cadaverous eyes !
Complexion ! Oh ! how sooty !

O ! how that form regales the sense !
What symmetry is given!
Oh, ugly, graceless being, hence !
Earth claims thee not nor heaven !

O ! what a boon, in weal or woe,
Is health, life's fairest etching !
Oh ! oh ! this pain ! this sickness ! Oh !
Oh ! oh ! this morbid retching !

O ! favored they who never want
The man of pills to call up !
Oh ! torturing bolus ! oh ! avaunt,
This calomel and jalap !

O friends ! how true ! Oh, foes, how base !
O wealth ! Oh, hard dependence !
O blest abode ! Oh, wretched place,
With all its vile attendants !

And thus in O's ! our pleasures flow ;
In Ohs ! our pains ; Oh ! galling !
But some—'tis wrong—use Oh ! for O !
And O ! for Oh ! appalling !
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