The Promise of Living

[David]

The Promise of Living
(from The Tender Land)
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

The promise of living with hope and thanksgiving
Is born of our loving our friends and our labor.
The promise of growing with faith and with knowing
Is born of our sharing our love with our neighbor.
The promise of living, the promise of growing
Is born of our singing in joy and thanksgiving.

For many a year I've known these fields
And known all the work that makes them yield,
Are you ready to lend a hand?
I'm ready to work, I'm ready to lend a hand.
By working together we'll bring in the harvest,
The blessings of harvest.

I plant each row with seeds of grain,
And Providence sends us the sun and the rain,
By lending a hand, by lending an arm
Bring out, bring out from the farm,
Bring out the blessings of harvest.

Give thanks there was sunshine, give thanks there was rain,
Give thanks we have hands to deliver the grain,
O let us be joyful, O let us be grateful to the Lord for His blessing.
The promise of ending in right understanding
Is peace in our own hearts and peace with our neighbor.

The promise of living, the promise of growing,
The promise of ending is labor and sharing and loving.

--Horace Everett

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