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Diana Nesbitt

Always Go Deeper

Poem of the Week: A Sun-Day Hymn by Oliver Wendell Holmes

April 28, 2012 by Diana Nesbitt Leave a Comment

Oh snap. Second week into this and I’m a day late. Oh well – I don’t think I said an exact day that this was going to happen each week. But Fridays are my goal – only yesterday my niece was over all day, so I have a very fun reason for being late. 🙂 This week’s poem is a beautiful “Sun-day” hymn by Oliver Wendell Holmes. As I was quickly looking over some of his poems, I read part of “A Ballad of the Boston Tea Party”, and noticed a curious phrase:

“Since Father Noah squeezed the grape
And took to such behaving
As would have shamed our grandsire ape
Before the days of shaving,–“

Noah and an evolutionary ape in the same stanza? Which did Holmes believe? Was he a Christian, or just a believer in God? Was he being sarcastic in “A Ballad of the Boston Tea Party” or if he was a Christian, was he one of the many who accept all of the Bible as truth, with the exception of Genesis 1? If you have any knowledge or thoughts about this, please comment and tell me what you think or know! My curiosity has been aroused, but I don’t have the time at the moment to research it myself. Whatever the man believed, he wrote a lovely poem – enjoy!

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Our midnight is thy smile withdrawn;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 thine!

Lord of all life, below, above,
Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,
Before thy ever-blazing throne
We ask no lustre 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!

Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Hi there! I’m Diana, and welcome to my blog, where you can find stories to encourage and inspire you to deepen your relationship with God.

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