Hope Is Before Us

I heard some saying

Leave hope and praying

All days shall be as all have been

Today, tomorrow

Brings fear and sorrow

Never-ending woe between

But the hope we lost

Begins to glimmer

Like autumn wheat under snow lies green

The moon that shines

Through clouds and darkness

The babe inside that grows unseen

Come shoulder to shoulder

For the world grows older

Help lies in none but you and I

Hope is before us

So let our chorus

Bring joy at last to all our lives

When the earth was younger

Mid toil and hunger

In hope we strove, our hands we strung

Then great men led us

With words they fed us

And made us sing a different song

But now the seeds of spring are sown

Let wintered hearts be warmed by sun

The joy of people now buds and grows

The birds will sing ere the winter's done

Come shoulder to shoulder

For the world grows older

Help lies in none but you and I

Hope is before us

So let our chorus

Bring joy at last to all our lives

We know not who'll lead us

What god shall heed us

But now we've seen what our hands have won

The world's been shaken

And fear awakened

But let good faith not be undone

We have voice and vision

From those before us

The famed and honored, the nameless wise

While many living

Their lives are giving

To help a bright new world arise

Come shoulder to shoulder

For the world grows older

Help lies in none but you and I

Hope is before us

So let our chorus

Bring joy at last to all our lives

Now to the tavern

The lights and fire

The fiddler's tune under shuffling feet

For in the morning

A new day's dawning

The young abounding year will meet

Come shoulder to shoulder

For the world grows older

Help lies in none but you and I

Hope is before us

So let our chorus

Bring joy at last to all our lives

Come shoulder to shoulder

For the world grows older

Help lies in none but you and I

Hope is before us

So let our chorus

Bring joy at last to all our lives

Joy at last to all our lives