Worship in Song ‎#43

43. Heap High the Farmer's Wintry Hoard

1 Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard!
Heap high the golden corn!
No richer gift has autumn poured
from out her lavish horn!
Through vales of grass and meads of flowers
our plows their furrows made,
While on the hills the sun and showers
of changeful April played.

2 We dropped the seed over hill and plain
beneath the sun of May,
And frightened from our sprouting grain
the robber crows away.
All through the long, bright days of June
its leaves grew green and fair,
And waved in hot midsummer's noon
its soft and yellow hair.

3 And now with autumn's moonlit eyes,
It's harvest-time has come,
We pluck away the frosted leaves,
and bear the treasure home.
Oh let the good old crop adorn
the hills our fathers (forbears) trod;
Still let us, for his (this) golden corn,
send up our thanks to God!

Text Information

• First Line: Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard!
• Title: Heap High the Farmer's Wintry Hoard
• Author: John Greenleaf Whittier (1847)
• Meter: 8.6.8.6.D.
• Publication Date: 1996
• Topic: Autumn; Creation; Harvest; Quaker author; Seasons; Spring; Summer; Thankfulness; Thanksgiving Day

Tune Information

• Name: ELLACOMBE
• Harmonizer: William H. Monk
• Meter: 8.6.8.6.D.
• Key: B♭ Major
• Source: Gesangbuch, Würtembergrschen Hofkapelle, 1784 (adapted); Harm.: Hymns Ancient and Modern, Appendix, 1868