Harvest Hymn (PDF)
SATB Choir Acappella
Words by Jeremiah Ingalls
Music by M Ryan Taylor

     In this folk-like setting, the singers are asked to make the gentle sound of the scythe harvesting the wheat. While the text is somewhat grim and thoughtful, it is a perfect match for Thanksgiving, a Harvest Celebration or any service that speaks about the parable of the wheat and the tares or the second coming of Christ. The setting is simple/straightforward/thoughtful and features a tenor/baritone solo in the third verse. A good piece to showcase the beautiful/strong qualities of your men’s voices.

The Text:
The fields are all white, the harvest is near,
The reapers all with their sharp sickles appear,
To reap down the wheat, and gather in barns,
While wild plants of nature are left for to burn.

Twill all be in vain, the mountains must flee,
The rocks fly like hailstones and shall no more be;
The earth it will shake, the seas shall retire,
And this solid world will then all be on fire.

Come then, O my soul, and think on that day,
When all things in nature shall cease and decay.
The trumpet shall sound, the angels appear,
To reap down the earth, both the wheat and the tare.