Recitative and Choral

Lyrics

Still tho' the scene of possible summer recedes And the guns can be heard across the hills Like waves at night: Though crawling suburbs fill Their valleys with the stench of idleness like rotting weeds And desire unacted breeds its pestilence Yet still below the soot the roots are sure And beyond the guns there is another murmur Like pigeons flying unnotice'd over continents With secret messages of peace: and at the centre Of wheeling conflict the heart is calmer The promise nearer than ever it came before Europe lies in the dark City and flood and tree; Thousands have work'd and work To master necessity To build the city where The will of love is done And brought to its full flower The dignity of man Pardon them their mistakes The impatient and wavering will They suffer for our sakes Honour, honour them all Honour, honour them all Dry their imperfect dust The wind blows it back and forth They die to make man just And worthy of the earth