593. Lift Every Voice and Sing

1 Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the harsh past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
let us march on till victory is won.

2 Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
come to the place for which our people sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

3 God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
God who has brought us thus far on the way;
God, who by your might, led us into the light,
keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met you,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, forget you;
Shadowed beneath your hand, may we forever stand,
true to our God, true to our native land.

Text Information
First Line: Lift every voice and sing
Title: Lift Every Voice and Sing
Author: James Weldon Johnson (1921, alt.)
Meter: Irr.
Language: English
Publication Date: 1995
Topic: Citizenship; Faith and Aspiration; Hope (1 more...)
Tune Information
Name: LIFT EVERY VOICE
Composer: J. Rosamond Johnson (1921)
Meter: Irr.
Key: F Major



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