 | The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes |  |
FOR A MONUMENT
I
Insensibility to painDuring a surgical operation
First produced at the Mass.
General Hospital
In Boston
By the use of Sulphuric Ether in October 1846
To commemorate this event
A citizen of Boston
Has caused this monument to be erected
A.D. 1866
II
These dews of mercy Heaven in pity shedTo lap in peaceful dreams the sufferer's head,
To calm the lingering throb of mortal strife,
And smooth the path that leads from life to life.
III
God wrought the marvel of our Mother's birthWhile Adam slumbered, painless, on the earth;
Her living daughters bless the gracious power
That soothes the pang of woman's sorrowing hour.
IV
Too cold the stone, the shaping hand too rudeThough only mortals asked our gratitude,
Thy glories, Father, in Thy servants shine,—
For all our blessings all the praise be Thine!
| The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes | |