Scripture Verse

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4

Introduction

portrait
Gerald Massey (1828–1907)

Words: Ger­ald Mas­sey. This is a cen­to from Mas­sey’s po­em To­day and To­mor­row, in his Po­ems and Ball­ads (New York, in­ter ali­bi: J. C. Der­by, 1854), pag­es 87–89. For the full po­em, see Mas­sey’s bio­gra­phy page.

Music: Nacht­ig­al, me­lo­dy from Trutz-Nacht­ig­al, od­er Geist­lichs-Po­et­isch Lust-Wald­lein, by Fried­rich von Spee, cir­ca 1649 (🔊 pdf nwc). Ap­peared in Songs of Praise, edited by Per­cy Dear­mer (words), with Ralph Vaugh­an Will­iams and Mar­tin F. Shaw (mu­sic) (Lon­don: Ox­ford Uni­vers­ity Press, 1925), num­ber 313.

portrait
Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1872–1958)

Lyrics

Through all the long dark night of years
The peop­le’s cry as­cende­th,
And earth is wet with blood and tears,
But our meek suf­fer­ance end­eth.
We are driv­en back, for our next fray,
A new­er strength to bor­row,
And where the van­guard camps to­day,
The rear shall rest to­mor­row.

Though hearts brood o’er the past, our eyes
With smiling futures glisten;
For lo, our day bursts up the skies—
Lean out your souls and listen!
The world is roll­ing free­dom’s way
And rip­en­ing with her sor­row.
Take heart! who bears the cross to­day
Shall wear the crown to­mor­row.

Build up he­ro­ic lives, and all
Be like a sheath­en saber,
Ready to flash out at God’s call,
O chiv­al­ry of la­bor!
Triumph and toil are twins, though they
Be sing­ly born in sor­row;
And ’tis the mar­tyr­dom to­day
Brings vic­to­ry to­mor­row.