APRIL 29, 1874 <br /> <br />SUNG BY MALE VOICES TO A NATIONAL AIR OF HOLLAND <br /> <br />ONCE more, ye sacred towers, <br />Your solemn dirges sound; <br />Strew, loving hands, the April flowers, <br />Once more to deck his mound. <br />A nation mourns its dead, <br />Its sorrowing voices one, <br />As Israel's monarch bowed his head <br />And cried, 'My son! My son!' <br /> <br />Why mourn for him?--For him <br />The welcome angel came <br />Ere yet his eye with age was dim <br />Or bent his stately frame; <br />His weapon still was bright, <br />His shield was lifted high <br />To slay the wrong, to save the right,-- <br />What happier hour to die? <br /> <br />Thou orderest all things well; <br />Thy servant's work was done; <br />He lived to hear Oppression's knell, <br />The shouts for Freedom won. <br />Hark!! from the opening skies <br />The anthem's echoing swell,-- <br />'O mourning Land, lift up thine eyes! <br />God reigneth. All is well!'<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hymn-at-the-funeral-services-of-charles-sumner/
