Singing the Living Tradition ‎#304

304. A Fierce Unrest

1 A fierce unrest seethes at the core
of all existing things:
it was the eager wish to soar
that gave the gods their wings.
There throbs through all the worlds that are
this heartbeat hot and strong,
and shaken systems, star by star,
awake and glow in song.

2 But for the urge of this unrest
these joyous spheres are mute;
but for the rebel in our breast
had we remained as brutes.
When baffled lips demanded speech,
speech trembled into birth;
one day the lyric word shall reach
from earth to laughing earth.

3 From deed to dream, from dream to deed,
from daring hope to hope,
the restless wish, the instant need,
still drove us up the slope.
Sing we no governed firmament,
cold, ordered, regular;
we sing the stinging discontent
that leaps from star to star.

Text Information

• First Line: A fierce unrest seethes at the core
• Title: A Fierce Unrest
• Author: Don Marquis, 1878-1937
• Meter: C.M.D.
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1993
• Topic: Humanist Teachings: Humanity: Women and Men; Evolution; Faith

Tune Information

• Name: SALVATION
• Meter: C.M.D.
• Key: d minor or modal
• Source: Ananias Davisson's Kentucky Harmony, c. 1815