A Sunday Hymn

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes, American Romantic poet, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 29, 1809, and died on October 7, 1894. He is considered a Fireside Poet, or part of a group of New England authors that wrote material very suitable to be read as entertainment to members of a family, often read aloud in front of a residential fireplace.

He also is a famous Boston Brahmin, or an elitist-philanthropist with great generosity. Holmes gave the Massachusetts State House the nickname The Hub of the Solar System which led to Boston being called The Hub.

Lord of all being! throned afar,
Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Centre and soul of every sphere,
Yet to each loving heart how near!

Sun of our life, thy quickening ray
Sheds on our path the glow of day;
Star of our hope, thy softened light
Cheers the long watches of the night.

Our midnight is thy smile withdrawn;
Our noontide is thy gracious dawn;
Our rainbow arch thy mercy's sign;
All, save the clouds of sin, are thin!

Lord of all life, below, above,
Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,
Before thy ever-blazing throne
We ask no luster of our own.

Grant us thy truth to make us free,
And kindling hearts that burn for thee,
Till all thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame!

— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Volume II (1893)