SUNG BY THE CONGREGATION TO THE TUNE OF <br />TALLIS'S EVENING HYMN <br /> <br />O'ERSHADOWED by the walls that climb, <br />Piled up in air by living hands, <br />A rock amid the waves of time, <br />Our gray old house of worship stands. <br /> <br />High o'er the pillared aisles we love <br />The symbols of the past look down; <br />Unharmed, unharming, throned above, <br />Behold the mitre and the crown! <br /> <br />Let not our younger faith forget <br />The loyal souls that held them dear; <br />The prayers we read their tears have wet, <br />The hymns we sing they loved to hear. <br /> <br />The memory of their earthly throne <br />Still to our holy temple clings, <br />But here the kneeling suppliants own <br />One only Lord, the King of kings. <br /> <br />Hark! while our hymn of grateful praise <br />The solemn echoing vaults prolong, <br />The far-off voice of earlier days <br />Blends with our own in hallowed song: <br /> <br />To Him who ever lives and reigns, <br />Whom all the hosts of heaven adore, <br />Who lent the life His breath sustains, <br />Be glory now and evermore!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hymn-for-the-two-hundredth-anniversary-of-king-s-chapel/
