Scripture Verse

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Matthew 22:39

Introduction

portrait
Franz J. Haydn (1732–1809)

Words: G. Lin­nae­us Banks, in the To­nic Sol­fa Re­port­er, June 1861. See Banks’ bio­gra­phy page for a long­er ver­sion pub­lished in his Dai­sies in the Grass, 1865.

Music: Bridge­town ar­ranged from Franz J. Hay­dn (1732–1809) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Banks (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

I live for those who love me,
For those I know are true,
For the Heav’n that smiles above me,
And awaits my spir­it, too;
For all hu­man ties that bind me,
For the task by God as­signed me,
For the bright hopes left be­hind me,
And the good that I can do.

I live to hail the sea­son,
By bards and seers fore­told;
When men shall live by rea­son,
And not alone for gold;
When man to man unit­ed,
And ev­ery wrong thing right­ed,
The whole world shall be light­ed,
As Ed­en was of old.

I live for those who love me,
For those who know me true,
For the Heav’n that smiles above me,
And awaits my spir­it, too;
For the wrong that needs re­sist­ance,
For the cause that lacks as­sist­ance,
For the fu­ture in the dist­ance,
For the good that I can do.