The Reaper and the Flowers

There is a reaper whose name is death

Author: Henry W. Longfellow
Published in 38 hymnals

Representative Text

1 There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,
And with his sickle keen,
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flow'rs that grow between.

2 "Shall I have naught that is fair?" saith he;
"Have naught but the bearded grain?
Though the breath of these flow'rs is sweet to me,
I'll give them all back again."

3 He gazed at the flow'rs with tearful eyes,
He kissed their drooping leaves;
It was for the Lord in Paradise,
He bound them in his sheaves.

4 "My Lord hath need of these flow'rets gay"
The Reaper said, and smil'd;
"Dear tokens of the earth are they,
Where he was once a child."

5 "They shall all bloom in fields of light,
Transplanted by my care,
And saints upon their garments white
These sacred blossoms wear."

6 And the mother gave in tears and pain,
The flowers she most did love;
She knew she should find them all again
In the fields of light above.

7 Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath,
The Reaper came that day;
'Twas an angel visited the green earth,
And took the flow'rs away.



Source: Minnetonka Songs: for Sabbath Schools, compiled especially for the Minnetonka Sabbath-School Assembly #81

Author: Henry W. Longfellow

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth , D.C.L. was born at Portland, Maine, Feb. 27, 1807, and graduated at Bowdoin College, 1825. After residing in Europe for four years to qualify for the Chair of Modern Languages in that College, he entered upon the duties of the same. In 1835 he removed to Harvard, on his election as Professor of Modern Languages and Belles-Lettres. He retained that Professorship to 1854. His literary reputation is great, and his writings are numerous and well known. His poems, many of which are as household words in all English-speaking countries, display much learning and great poetic power. A few of these poems and portions of others have come into common use as hymns, but a hymn-writer in the strict sense of that term he… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: There is a reaper whose name is death
Title: The Reaper and the Flowers
Author: Henry W. Longfellow
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 38 of 38)

Alexander's Male Choir #d40

Page Scan

Brightest Glory #141

Page Scan

Children's Praise #30

Page Scan

Choral Echoes from the Church of God in All Ages #T43

Page Scan

Choral Echoes from the Church of God in All Ages #293

Page Scan

Favorite Solos #155

Page Scan

Garnered Gems #111

Page Scan

Glory Bells #157

Happy Day #d129

Page Scan

Hymns New and Old, No. 2 #154

Page Scan

Life-Time Hymns #273a

Living Praise #d201

Love and Praise #d136

Lyra Sacra Americana #d193

TextPage Scan

Minnetonka Songs #81

Page Scan

New pearls of song #157a

Page Scan

One Hundred Gospel Hymns #22

Page Scan

Palmer's Sabbath School Songs #63b

Page Scan

Peerless Praise #81

Sacred Lyrics #d139

Sacred Songs for Church and Home #d493

Page Scan

Songs for the Sabbath School and Vestry #110b

Page Scan

Songs of Beulah #91

Page Scan

Songs of the Soul #217

Sunday Hymns #d35

The Carol #d114

The Charm #d88

The Evangelists' Songs of Praise No. 2 #134

Page Scan

The Palm #375b

Page Scan

The Revival #17

Page Scan

The Revival #17

The Sabbath Hour #d81

Page Scan

The Shining River #143

The Tabernacle #d320

Page Scan

The Treasury of American Sacred Song with Notes Explanatory and Biographical #36

Page Scan

The Tree of Life #159

Page Scan

Towner's Male Choir Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Combined #96

Page Scan

Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith #217

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us