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Hymn At The Funeral Services Of Charles Sumner, April 29, 1874

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

Topics: classic

Once more, ye sacred towers,     Your solemn dirges sound;     Strew, loving hands, the April flowers,     Once more to deck his mound.     A nation mourns its dead,     Its sorrowing voices one,     As Israel's monarch bowed his head     And cried, "My son! My son!"     Why mourn for him? - For him     The welcome angel came     Ere yet his eye with age was dim     Or bent his stately frame;     His weapon still was bright,     His shield was lifted high     To slay the wrong, to save the right, -     What happier hour to die?     Thou orderest all things well;     Thy servant's work was done;     He lived to hear Oppression's knell,     The shouts for Freedom won.     Hark!! from the opening skies     The anthem's echoing swell, -     "O mourning Land, lift up thine eyes!     God reigneth. All is well!"

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Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Once more, ye sacred towers,..." by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

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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