Gloria (from The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass)
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Glory be to God on high,
Who launched the sunlight, loosed the rain,
Who scattered stars across the sky,
Who piled the mountains, rolled the plains,
Who spilled the rivers and the seas.
Oh Glory be, oh Glory be.

Glory be to God below,
For feather, fur, for scale and fin,
For vine uptwisting, blossom’s fire,
For muscle, sinew, nerve and skin
And every feature set aglow
Oh, Glory be to God below.

Oh Glory be for peace on earth,
And prayerful be the human heart
That has required a Savior’s birth
To make of earth heav’ns counterpart,
So strife might stop and warring cease.
Oh, Glory be for peace, oh, be for peace.

Oh, Glory be the generous hand
Who left us to our work, and care,
Who gave us only few commands
But that we help each other bear
Life’s burdens. Pain and suffering ease.
Oh, Glory be, oh, Glory be.
                    Marisha Chamberlain (b.1952)