Thursday, September 20, 2007

Finlandia and "A Song of Peace"

I'm so tired of the "God bless America" sentiment as if, somehow, God should not bless other nations. I just came across these words by Lloyd Stone which are sung to the Sebelius tune Finlandia:

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

And here is an extra verse written by Georgia Harkness:

May truth and freedom come to every nation;
May peace abound where strife has raged so long;
That each may seek to love and build together,
A world united, righting every wrong;
A world united in its love for freedom,
Proclaiming peace together in one song.

I had not come across these words before. The words I'm familiar with that go to the Finlandia tune begin with "Be still my soul" . But the ones I've posted here truly bring tears to my eyes. It was sung (with the extra verse) during a global candlelight peace vigil March 16, 2003 (three days before the U.S. led attack of Iraq) in Ellsworth, Maine. If you want to hear the tune, you can do so here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

New policy: Anonymous posts must be signed or they will be deleted. Pick a name, any name (it could be Paperclip or Doorknob), but identify yourself in some way. Thank you.