A sad and difficult day.
I first heard this song, “A Song of Peace” at a friend’s memorial service this summer. The tune is Finlandia by Sibelius and the words are by a poet named Lloyd Stone (1912 – 1993). In the video below, it’s sung by a group called Harmonious Combustion.
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.
