VocalEssence Ensemble Singers

My soul, there is a country
far beyond the stars,
where stands a winged sentry,
all skillful in the wars:

there above noise and danger,
sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles,
and One, born in a manger
commands the beauteous files.

He is thy gracious friend,
and O my soul awake!
did in pure love descend
to die here for thy sake.

If thou canst get but thither,
there grows the flower of peace,
the rose that cannot whither,
thy fortress, and thy ease.

Leave then thy foolish rangers,
for none can thee secure
but one who never changes
thy God, thy life, thy cure.
—Henry Vaughan