READING OF THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS

Year after year beheld the silent toil

That spread his lustrous coil;

Still, as the spiral grew,

He left the past year's dwelling for the new,

Stole with soft step its shining archway through,

Build up its idle door,

Stretch'd in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

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!

• Selections from “The Chambered Nautilus”

     by Oliver Wendell Holmes