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.

These lines come from Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.’s poem “The Last Leaf,” a reflective, lightly humorous meditation on aging and survival. Holmes (a physician-poet associated with the New England “Fireside Poets”) wrote the poem in the early 19th century and later included it in his collections. The speaker imagines outliving his contemporaries—like a single leaf stubbornly clinging to a bare branch when spring returns. The tone blends pathos with wit: rather than resent being the “last,” the speaker hopes to meet others’ smiles with his own, accepting the oddity and loneliness of late life with good-natured resilience.

The image of a lone leaf persisting into spring reverses the usual seasonal symbolism: spring signifies renewal, yet the “last leaf” suggests an anachronistic survivor from a previous cycle. Holmes uses this to explore the social and emotional experience of old age—outliving friends, becoming a curiosity, and feeling “forsaken.” The speaker’s wish that others smile “as I do now” signals a chosen attitude: dignity without self-pity, and humor as a form of endurance. The “old forsaken bough” underscores both physical decline and isolation, while “cling” conveys tenacity—life held onto even when it seems out of season.