A Hymn to the UN 
Music: Pablo Casals Words: W.H. Auden 
Eagerly, musician. 
Sweep your string, 
So we may sing. 
Elated, optative, 
Our several voices 
Interblending, 
Playfully contending, 
Not interfering 
But co-inhering, 
For all within 
The cincture 
of the sound, 
Is holy ground 
Where all are brothers, 
None faceless Others, 
Let mortals beware 
Of words, for 
With words we lie, 
Can say peace 
When we mean war, 
Foul thought speak- fair 
And promise falsely, 
But song is true: 
Let music for peace 
Be the paradigm, 
For peace means to change 
At the right time, 
as the World-Clock 
Goes Tick- and Tock. 
So may the story 
Of our human city 
Presently move 
Like music, when 
Begotten notes 
New notes beget 
Making the flowing 
Of time a growing 
Till what it could be, 
At last it is, 
Where even sadness 
Is a form of gladness, 
Where fate is freedom, 
Grace and Surprise.