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Simplicity.

Its a gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free,
Its the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right

Its a gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free,
Its a gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right
Till by turning, turning we come round right

Simple Gifts by Joseph Brackett, 1797-1882

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I recently bought Jewel's "Lullabies" CD and it had this song on it.  Quite appropriate since I've recently fallen into a study on simplicity and simple living.  Not only is the whole CD a beautiful set of songs for both adults and children (relaxing!), her "Simple Gifts" recording really gave me a much-needed moment of focus as I rocked my little darling to sleep.

7 comments:

Mrs. G said...

Amy, I believe that's a Shaker hymn, or a variation of one. Very fitting and beautiful. Do share what you're learning in your study. :-)
Paris

Tiff said...

Love, love, love that song.

If you like a bit of history behind things, here is a link about the song... http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/shakermusic4.htm

Mrs. G said...

Tiff,
I thought it was a variation. We know a version with somewhat different lyrics. I love the old hymns, they're so different from more contemporary ones.

Amy said...

Thanks ladies! Mrs. G, I would love to know the lyrics you have. I had never heard of it before I bought the CD. It would be interesting to have more lyrics to go with it.

I, too, prefer the old hymns to contemporary ones. The new ones can be very beautiful, but there is something...well...*simple* about the old hymns. And that's so nice.

Amy

Emily said...

Lovely patterns! I just started following!

Emily said...

By the way -- what program did you use to draft your patterns?

Rachel said...

so sweet