LO, HOW A ROSE - carol by Michael Praetorius arr Craig Hella Johnson
THE ROSE - words and music by Amanda McBroom
Soloist ~ Nancy Olfert, alto
Rebecca Genge, soprano
Christopher Dawes, piano
Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming from tender stem has sprung.
Of Jesse's lineage coming as men of old have sung.
It came, a Flow'ret bright, amid the cold of winter
When half-spent was the night.
This Flow'r, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendour the darkness everywhere.
True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us
And lightens every load.
Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed;
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed;
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need;
I say love, it is a flower And you, its only seed.
It's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance;
It's the dream, afraid of waking, That never takes the chance;
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give;
And the soul, afraid of dying that never learns to live.
When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long;
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong;
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose
