((REVISION_HISTORY ORDER="LATEST_UPPERMOST"))
* 20030217T192953Z/version 0001.1001
  __supplemented background note
    in light of {roy.macgregor} Battle Hymn remarks
    in Toronto _Globe and Mail_ 2003-02-17 page A2
* 20030217T012912Z/version 0001.1000
  __corrected inappropriate triumphalist nuance in "city on a hilltop" 
  __made other small changes
* 20030216T055907Z/version 0001.0000
((/REVISION_HISTORY))

((BACKGROUND_NOTE)) 

This poem was written at a time of public spiritual emergency, on 15
and 16 February 2003, when Washington seemed ready to launch an unjust
war.

Is it presumptuous of me, a citizen of Estonia and Canada, to
rewrite the Battle Hymn of the Republic?  No. A line of thinkers going
back to John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts, has correctly
proclaimed America a "city on a hill", a beacon to nations. America is
a political project, an intellectual and moral project, 
in which we all - regardless of our formal citizenship - 
rightly participate, and for whose integrity we all now rightly fear.

When Julia Ward Howe published her Battle Hymn of the Republic in
February, 1862, she was herself fitting new words to an existing
marching song, "John Brown's Body".  What she did, and what I am
trying to do here, others may well do, again and and again, as
circumstances change.

Howe, appalled by the violence of Civil War troops, devoted
her later life to peace. What we now know as Mother's Day might 
be considered a feeble echo of her 1872 mother's-day-of-peace
initiative.

My hope is that my words will be sung occasionally at peace rallies as
we urge the present Washington officeholders to return to the liberal
ideals of America's founders.

Toomas Karmo 
http://www.metascientia.com 
((/BACKGROUND_NOTE)) 

((TERMS-OF-USE_NOTE))

This document is to be considered freely reproducible in all media,
and freely usable for any noncommercial purpose, in the spirit of the
GNU Free Documentation License available at
((http://www.gnu.org/)). In reproducing the poem contained herein, it
suffices to append the following phrase:

     Freely usable in the spirit

     of the GNU Documentation License.            

     Version control information 

     and background notes are archived 

     on the Web pages of the author, Toomas Karmo,

     at ((http://www.metascientia.com)). 
     
((/TERMS-OF-USE_NOTE))



((TITLE))

Peace Hymn of the Republic

((/TITLE))




((MAIN_TEXT)) 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:/ 

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;/ 

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:/

    His truth is marching on. 


Glory, glory, hallelujah!/ 

Glory, glory, hallelujah!/

Glory, glory, hallelujah;/

    His truth is marching on. 


We lived in ease and splendor and disdained the huddled poor,/ 

Raping soils and seas and foreign skies, in arms and gold secure:/ 

Now we've lost our proud twin towers, now we fear the dark of war;/

    God's truth goes marching on.


Glory, glory, hallelujah!/

Glory, glory, hallelujah!/

Glory, glory, hallelujah;/

    God's truth goes marching on. 




Unhappy world, you grieve for us, and yet for you we mourn;/

Some billion souls seek sustenance, a tithing of our corn:/

From dying fields, from teeming slums, fresh terrors will be born -/

    Can truth go marching on?


Glory, glory, hallelujah!/

Glory, glory, hallelujah!/

Glory, glory, hallelujah;/

   Can truth go marching on? 


((TEMPO="SLOW"))

Our strength lies not in battle gear but in humility;/

Through anguished meditation we discern our destiny:/

Our city on a hilltop shall embrace humanity;/

    God's truth shall lead us on.



Glory, glory, hallelujah!/

Glory, glory, hallelujah!/

Glory, glory, hallelujah;/

    God's truth shall lead us on. 
((/MAIN_TEXT))