"The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart through all generations.
Blessed, happy, fortunate, to be envied is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people He had chosen as His heritage."
(Psalm 33:11-12)
Image courtesy/Dreamstime.com
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When once or twice, for man's avail,
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer strain,
The banner of the free!
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
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
The Story Behind The Poem
In 1893, a 33 year old English professor from Wellesley College
Katharine Lee Bates was traveling West to teach school in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. While traveling across the country
by train, several sights inspired her and later found their way
into her poem, "Pikes Peak".
These included the World's Columbian Exposition (Fair)
being held in Chicago, known as the "White City" for
its future promise of gleaming white buildings; the vast
amber-gold fields of wheat stretching out across the plains of
the Mid-West, and the majestic view from the highest summit
of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of
North America, better known as Pikes Peak.
After her climb up the mountain, the words of the poem she
was writing came together and were later published in the
4th of July edition of the church periodical, "The Congregationalist"
where the poem was retitled, "America".
A hymn composed in 1882 by Samuel A. Ward called,"Materna"
was later chosen to be the best musical score, after the words
of Bates poem were revised and published in 1910 as the
classic song, "America The Beautiful" beloved by
generations of Americans ever since.
I love the great Ray Charles' rendition of this song!
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