Scripture Verse

The trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 16:33

Introduction

portrait
Lucy Larcom
1824–1893

Words: Lu­cy Lar­com, 1891.

Music: Cleans­ing Foun­tain 19th Cen­tu­ry Am­er­ican camp meet­ing tune (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

Lyrics

For the wealth of pathless forests,
Whereon no axe may fall;
For the winds that haunt the branches,
The young bird’s timid call;
For the red leaves dropped like rubies
Upon the dark green sod;
For the waving of the forests,
I thank Thee, O my God!

For the sound of waters gushing
In bubbling beads of light;
For the fleets of snow-white lilies
Firm anchored out of sight;
For the reeds among the eddies,
The crystal on the clod;
For the flowing of the rivers,
I thank Thee, O my God!

For the rosebud’s break of beauty
Along the toiler’s way;
For the violet’s eye that opens
To bless the newborn day;
For the bare twigs that in summer
Bloom like the prophet’s rod;
For the blossoming of flowers,
I thank Thee, O my God!

For the lifting up of mountains,
In brightness and in dread;
For the peaks where snow and sunshine
Alone have dared to tread;
For the dark of silent gorges,
Whence mighty cedars nod;
For the majesty of mountains,
I thank Thee, O my God!

For the splendor of the sunsets,
Vast mirrored on the sea;
For the gold fringed clouds that curtain
Heaven’s inner mystery;
For the molten bars of twilight,
Where thought leans, glad, yet awed;
For the glo­ry of the sunsets,
I thank Thee, O my God!

For the earth, and all its beauty,
The sky, and all its light;
For the dim and soothing shadows
That rest the dazzled sight;
For unfading fields and prairies,
Where sense in vain has trod;
For the world’s exhaustless beauty,
I thank Thee, O my God!

For an eye of inward seeing;
A soul to know and love;
For these common aspirations,
That our high heirship prove;
For the hearts that bless each other
Beneath Thy smile, Thy rod;
For the amaranth saved from Eden,
I thank Thee, O my God!

For the hidden scroll o’erwritten
With one dear Name adored;
For the heav’nly in the human,
The Spi­rit in the Word;
For the tokens of Thy presence
Within, above, abroad;
For Thine own great gift of Being,
I thank Thee, O my God!