Choral Choir,Choral,SATB Chorus - Level 4 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1503844
Composed by Carl Sandburg and Nathaniel Hontz. 20th Century,Contemporary,Holiday,Patriotic,Sacred. 7 pages. TigerSong LLC #1079298. Published by TigerSong LLC (A0.1503844).
Carl Sandburg's Thanksgiving poem Fire Dreams, set for SATB choir. The music follows the rhythms of the poem, as it meditates on pilgrims and gratitude, and their place in our modern consciousness. The poem was written to be read aloud on Thanksgiving Day. Piano accompaniment intended for rehearsal only (although it can accompany performance).
I remember here by the fire,
In the flickering reds and saffrons,
They came in a ramshackle tub,
Pilgrims in tall hats,
Pilgrims of iron jaws,
Drifting by weeks on beaten seas,
And the random chapters say
They were glad and sang to God.
And so
Since the iron-jawed men sat down
And said, Thanks, O God,
For life and soup and a little less
Than a handout to-day,
Since gray winds blew gray patterns of sleet on Plymouth Rock,
Since the iron-jawed [wo]men sang Thanks, O God,
You and I, O Child of the West,
Remember more than ever
November and the hunter's moon,
November and the yellow-spotted hills.
And so
In the name of the iron-jawed men
I will stand up and say yes till the finish is come and gone.
God of all broken hearts, empty hands, sleeping soldiers,
God of all star-flung beaches of night sky,
I and my love-child stand up together to-day and sing: Thanks, O God..
