"For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.
Christ our God to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light.
For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild.
For Thyself, best gift divine,
to the world so freely given,
agent of God's grand design: peace on earth and joy in heaven."
~ Folliet S. Pierpoint
A gift of love a gift of beauty,
Given fully, granted freely,
Life of living, joy of pleasure,
Overflowing without measure,
God's great kindness towards us all
Compels us on His name to call
With our deep, unbroken praise.
Breezes from another world,
Flashing standards all unfurled,
Tokens of eternity
Sent from vast infinity
By God Himself who does not cease
To send us beauty, love, and peace,
And joy amongst the saddest folds;
Our fortunes in His palms He holds,
For this, our deep, unbroken praise.
Melodies that make us sing
E'en when death's somber hearse bells ring,
Echoes of a distant song
That puts to right our lists of wrong,
And should we hearken still to tell
Of angel choirs the earth would swell
Proclaiming glory to the King
To whom Thanksgiving we must bring
With all our deep, unbroken praise.
With glory let our praises sound
And with a hymn our lives resound,
Of grateful voices lifted up,
To Him who overflows our cup,
A light un-quenched, a standard staid,
For this purpose we were made,
With one accord our anthems raise,
Great tunes of deep, unbroken praise.
Happy Thanksgiving day, friends. For those of you who may ask. The first poem is not mine...I'm sure you all know it quite well. The following one is mine, not quite so beautiful or polished, but passable, I hope. May we spend this day in joyful thanksgiving to the One from whom all blessings flow.
I'll leave you with one of my favourite choral renditions of "For The Beauty of The Earth" courtesy of John Rutter.
