English poem
Hymn For The Fair At Chicago
O GOD! in danger's darkest hour, In battle's deadliest field, Thy name has been our Nation's tower, Thy truth her help and shield.
Our lips should fill the air with praise, Nor pay the debt we owe, So high above the songs we raise The floods of mercy flow.
Yet Thou wilt hear the prayer we speak, The song of praise we sing,-- Thy children, who thine altar seek Their grateful gifts to bring.
Thine altar is the sufferer's bed, The home of woe and pain, The soldier's turfy pillow, red With battle's crimson rain.
No smoke of burning stains the air, No incense-clouds arise; Thy peaceful servants, Lord, prepare A bloodless sacrifice.
Lo! for our wounded brothers' need, We bear the wine and oil; For us they faint, for us they bleed, For them our gracious toil!
O Father, bless the gifts we bring! Cause Thou thy face to shine, Till every nation owns her King, And all the earth is thine.
1865.
More by Oliver Wendell Holmes
- Hymn After The Emancipation Proclamation
- Hymn For The Celebration At The Laying Of The Cornerstone Of Harvard Memorial Hall, Cambridge, October 6, 1870
- Hymn For The Class-Meeting
- Hymn For The Dedication Of Memorial Hall At Cambridge, June 23, 1874
- Hymn For The Inauguration Of The Statue Of Governor Andrew, Hingham, October 7, 1875
- Hymn For The Same Occasion (The Two Hundredth Anniversary King's Chapel)
- HYMN OF TRUST
- Hymn. - The Word Of Promise