JUNE 7, 1877 <br /> <br />ANGEL of love, for every grief <br />Its soothing balm thy mercy brings, <br />For every pang its healing leaf, <br />For homeless want, thine outspread, wings. <br /> <br />Enough for thee the pleading eye, <br />The knitted brow of silent pain; <br />The portals open to a sigh <br />Without the clank of bolt or chain. <br /> <br />Who is our brother? He that lies <br />Left at the wayside, bruised and sore <br />His need our open hand supplies, <br />His welcome waits him at our door. <br /> <br />Not ours to ask in freezing tones <br />His race, his calling, or his creed; <br />Each heart the tie of kinship owns, <br />When those are human veins that bleed. <br /> <br />Here stand the champions to defend <br />From every wound that flesh can feel; <br />Here science, patience, skill, shall blend <br />To save, to calm, to help, to heal. <br /> <br />Father of Mercies! Weak and frail, <br />Thy guiding hand Thy children ask; <br />Let not the Great Physician fail <br />To aid us in our holy task. <br /> <br />Source of all truth, and love, and light, <br />That warm and cheer our earthly days, <br />Be ours to serve Thy will aright, <br />Be Thine the glory and the praise!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hymn-read-at-the-dedication-of-the-oliver-wendell-holmes-hospital-at-hudson-wisconsin/
