November 6, 2012
- O beautiful for spacious skies,
- For amber waves of grain,
- For purple mountain majesties
- Above the fruited plain!
- America! America!
- God shed His grace on thee,
- And crown thy good with brotherhood
- From sea to shining sea!
- O beautiful for pilgrim feet
- Whose stern impassion'd stress
- A thoroughfare for freedom beat
- Across the wilderness
- America! America!
- God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
- Confirm thy soul in self-control,
- Thy liberty in law.
- O beautiful for heroes prov'd
- In liberating strife,
- Who more than self their country lov'd,
- And mercy more than life.
- America! America!
- May God thy gold refine
- Till all success be nobleness,
- And ev'ry gain divine.
- O beautiful for patriot dream
- That sees beyond the years
- Thine alabaster cities gleam
- Undimmed by human tears.
- America! America!
- God shed His grace on thee,
- And crown thy good with brotherhood
- From sea to shining sea.
This is a beautifully nuanced, honest yet hopeful hymn-prayer for America. I'd never read all the verses before. May its truth permeate every American heart and move the great United States to even greater reality by God's grace.
ReplyDelete