The Last Mile

I’ve previously shared some of the Hymns of the God’s Gardeners from Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Year of the Flood. Today in my class on religion and science fiction, we finished talking about the novel, and focused on the theology of the God’s Gardeners, and I learned that in the audiobook the hymns are actually included in their musical rendition by Orville Stoeber. And so I thought I would share the lyrics of another of the hymns, “The Last Mile“:

The last mile is the longest mile—

`Tis then we weaken;

We lose the strength to run the race,

We doubt Hope’s beacon…

Take heart, oh dusty Travelers:

Though you may falter,

Though you be felled along the way,

You’ll reach the Altar.

Race on, race on, though eyes grow dim,

And faint the Chorus;

God gives us Nature’s green applause—

Such will restore us.

For in the effort is the Goal,

`Tis thus we’re treasured:

He knows us by our Pilgrim Soul—

`Tis thus we’re measured.