Shaw, George Bernard -- “The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God,” Short Stories, Scraps, and Shavings (1932)

Dave — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 14:43:24 +0000

Life is a flame that is always burning itself out; but it catches fire again every time a child is born.

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright and critic
“The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God,” Short Stories, Scraps, and Shavings (1932)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Poem (1848), “A Sun-Day Hymn,” st. 5

Dave — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:15:20 +0000

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 heav’nly flame.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Poem (1848), “A Sun-Day Hymn,” st. 5

Best remembered today as a hymn, usually set to Virgil C. Taylor's "Louvan" (1850) or other tunes. Also known (from its first line) as "Lord of All Being [Throned Afar]". This is the concluding verse/stanza.

First published in Atlantic Monthly (1859-12) at the end of the last installment of his Professor at the Breakfast Table, where he prefaces it:

Peace to all such as may have been vexed in spirit by any utterance these pages have repeated! They will, doubtless, forget for the moment the difference in the hues of truth we look at through our human prisms, and join in singing (inwardly) this hymn to the Source of the light we all need to lead us, and the warmth which alone can make us all brothers.

It was collected, as a poem, in his The Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1863).

WIST Quotations

Shaw, George Bernard -- “The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God,” Short Stories, Scraps, and Shavings (1932)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Poem (1848), “A Sun-Day Hymn,” st. 5