Lift Every Voice and Sing
Lift every voice and sing,
'Til 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 dark 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 'til victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning 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 fathers 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,
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy 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 Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Comments
What an amazing day. I too was teary eyed watching it from work.
I am a fellow quilter who enjoys stopping by to read your blog now and then and that of your friend Guenveur in Kent.
-Kari
I'm SO glad I asked off work today so that I could witness history being made. I can't tell you how proud I am of our country tonight. Sure, tomorrow the real work of leading our country back from the abyss begins, but let us tonight celebrate one of US history's greatest days, when we inaugurated our first black President, our first real global President, and someone who is being lauded the world over as America's new promise of hope and change.
That hymn that you quoted is one of my personal favorites. We've sung it in church before on occasions commemorating black history, and is perhaps the most appropriate song to sing on this historic day. I almost wish that it had been sung at the Inauguration ceremony, but that aside, it's a powerful song that speaks of a long struggle for equality and justice, one that we have, on this day, perhaps moved one step closer toward.
May God bless President Obama, his family and his entire administration. May they lead us forward with wisdom, compassion and humility.
Thank you, Nancy, for your work in bringing this happy day to our country!