The Last Leaf

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

with illustrations by

George Wharton Edwards

and F. Hopkinson Smith




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Each shares transcriptions of the author's note, the history of the poem, and the online editor's note, all at the end of the other file. Neither poem text contains any hypertext links to distract the reader.]



Houghton-Mifflin & Co.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, MDCCCXCV




I saw him once before,
As he passed by the door,
And again
The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o'er the ground
With his cane.

They say that in his prime,
Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a better man was found
By the Crier on his round
Through the town.

But now he walks the streets,
And he looks at all he meets
Sad and wan,
And he shakes his feeble head,
That it seems as if he said,
"They are gone!"

The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has prest
In their bloom,
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb.

My grandmamma has said--
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago--
That he had a Roman nose,
And his cheek was like a rose
In the snow;

But now his nose is thin,
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff,
And a crook is in his back,
And a melancholy crack
In his laugh.

I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here;
But the old three-cornered hat,
And the breeches, and all that,
Are so queer!

And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.






Frontispiece-- he had a Roman
nose and his cheek was like a rose
in the snow

Frontispiece (signed by George Wharton Edwards): "He had a Roman nose and his cheek was like a rose in the snow."


Title page. The Last Leaf Poem by
Oliver Wendell Holmes, illustrated by
George Wharton Edwards and F. Hopkinson
Smith, Houghton-Mifflin and Co., The
Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1895

Title page. The Last Leaf Poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, illustrated by George Wharton Edwards and F. Hopkinson Smith, Houghton-Mifflin and Co., The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1895


Copyrighted by Houghton-Mifflin and Co., 1885 and 1894.


Author's Note, July 12, 1894

Author's note, July 12, 1894 (see transcription in other file)


List of illustrations, page 1


List of illustrations, page 2


List of illustrations, page 3


poem text, page 1, decoration signed by Edwards

Poem text, page 1, with decorative border signed by Edwards


Poem text, page 2

Poem text, page 2, with decorative border signed by Edwards


poem text, page 3, decoration signed by Edwards

Poem text, page 3, with decorative border signed by Edwards


Half-title illustration of rose on open book

Decorative half-title signed by Edwards


Colonial entryway with fan window above door, cane against wall

"I saw him once before As he passed by the door"


Old man walking with cane around a sundial

"I saw him once before"


They say that in his prime Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down, Not a better man Was found

"They say that in his prime
Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a better man was found"



Not a better man was found In the town



"Not a better man was found"


By the Crier on his round Through the town

"By the Crier on his round
Through the town"


By the Crier on his round (Crier rings a bell and
carries an umbrella and satchel under his arm)

"By the Crier on his round"


Through the town

"Through the town"


Through the town

"Through the town"
(signed by F. Hopkinson Smith)


But now he walks the streets

"But now he walks the streets"


Old man walks in front of colonial tavern

"But now he walks the streets"
(signed by Edwards)


The streets

"The streets"


Walking, shaded by old elms, on
on the Boston Common, toward the new State House, or the
Houghton Mifflin building

"The streets"
(signed by F. Hopkinson Smith)


The mossy marbles (tomb covers) rest

"The mossy marbles rest"
(signed by Edwards)


An old graveyard, with fir trees, tilted
stones, and high weeds and flowers

"The mossy marbles rest"
(signed by Smith)


A bonnet ornaments the words, the 
lips that he has prest

"The lips that he has prest"


A beautiful woman in a bonnet

"The lips that he has prest"


In their bloom

"in their bloom"


the two lovers cross a bridge. He has
his arm around her

"in their bloom"


Patience Prynne who departed this life. . .
is the name on the gravestone...And the names he
loved to hear Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb

"And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb"


A city cemetery, perhaps the Old Granary,
behind Houghton-Mifflin

"And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year"


On the tomb

"On the tomb"


He places a flower on the tomb

"On the tomb"


My grandmamma has said--poor old lady, 
She is dead long ago

""My grandmamma has said--
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago,--"


My grandmamma musing in a chair with an open book

"My grandmamma has said--
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago,--"


Like a rose in the sow

"Like a rose in the snow"


Grandmamma's empty rocking chair with
slippers before, books on table, and
rosebushes in pots on window sill, with
snow outside

"Like a rose in the snow"


bird perches on branch, In the snow

"in the snow"


trees in the snow

"in the snow"


But now his nose is thin 
And it rests upon his chin Like a staff

"But now his nose is thin
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff"


his nose is thin 
And it rests upon his chin. He also
has little reading glasses and a pony-tailed
white wig

"But now his nose is thin
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff"

(Edwards)


The old three-cornered hat
And the breeches and all that Are so queer

"The old three-cornered hat
And the breeches and all that
Are so queer!"

(Edwards)


Looking over the Navy Yard from Boston North End

"The old three-cornered hat
And the breeches and all that
Are so queer!"

(Edwards)


If I should live to be 
The last leaf upon the tree In the spring

" If I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring"

(Edwards)


Leaning on a gate near the sea, watching
the first spring flowers

"If I should live to be"

(Edwards)


The last leaf is still on the tree

"The last leaf upon the tree"

(Edwards)


Spring freshens the stream and buds the trees

"in the spring"

(Smith)


In the spring

"in the spring"

(Edwards)


the river flows in spring

"in the spring"

(Smith)


one leaf is seen on the old forgotten bough

"the old forgotten bough"

(Edwards)


spring mist floats over dark barren trees

"the old forgotten bough"

(Smith)


Symbols of life and death: a lamp in a laurel wreath,
an hourglass, a scissors cutting a ribbon, cracked scallop shells

"Let them smile as I do now
At the old forgotten bough
Where I cling"

(Edwards)


The dark graveyard is The End

The End

(Smith)


The history of the poem, page 1

The history of the poem, page 1 (see transcription)


The history of the poem, page 2

The history of the poem, page 2 (see transcription)


The history of the poem, page 3

The history of the poem, page 3 (see transcription)


The history of the poem, page 4

The history of the poem, page 4 (see transcription)








































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