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At The Unitarian Festival

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

Topics: classic

The waves unbuild the wasting shore;     Where mountains towered the billows sweep,     Yet still their borrowed spoils restore,     And build new empires from the deep.     So while the floods of thought lay waste     The proud domain of priestly creeds,     Its heaven-appointed tides will haste     To plant new homes for human needs.     Be ours to mark with hearts unchilled     The change an outworn church deplores;     The legend sinks, but Faith shall build     A fairer throne on new-found shores.

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Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The waves unbuild the wasting shore;..." by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Oliver Wendell Holmes

About Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) was an American poet, physician, and essayist. His poems "Old Ironsides" and "The Chambered Nautilus" are American classics. He was part of the Fireside Poets group.

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