TO J. F. CLARKE <br /> <br />WHO is the shepherd sent to lead, <br />Through pastures green, the Master's sheep? <br />What guileless 'Israelite indeed' <br />The folded flock may watch and keep? <br /> <br />He who with manliest spirit joins <br />The heart of gentlest human mould, <br />With burning light and girded loins, <br />To guide the flock, or watch the fold; <br /> <br />True to all Truth the world denies, <br />Not tongue-tied for its gilded sin; <br />Not always right in all men's eyes, <br />But faithful to the light within; <br /> <br />Who asks no meed of earthly fame, <br />Who knows no earthly master's call, <br />Who hopes for man, through guilt and shame, <br />Still answering, 'God is over all'; <br /> <br />Who makes another's grief his own, <br />Whose smile lends joy a double cheer; <br />Where lives the saint, if such be known?-- <br />Speak softly,--such an one is here! <br /> <br />O faithful shepherd! thou hast borne <br />The heat and burden of the clay; <br />Yet, o'er thee, bright with beams unshorn, <br />The sun still shows thine onward way. <br /> <br />To thee our fragrant love we bring, <br />In buds that April half displays, <br />Sweet first-born angels of the spring, <br />Caught in their opening hymn of praise. <br /> <br />What though our faltering accents fail, <br />Our captives know their message well, <br />Our words unbreathed their lips exhale, <br />And sigh more love than ours can tell. <br /> <br />April 4, 1860.<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-birthday-tribute/
