Flow forth, my tongue, in song

Flow forth, my tongue, in song,
With gracious words and sweet;
A well of strife thou wast for long,
To bitterness wast fleet,
But now thy God thy streams amends
And healing to thy fountains sends.

Rise up, O tongue of fire,
My soul with sin is dark;
God doth thy melody inspire,
Now lend thy little spark.
Thou canst a matter great ignite
So bring thy Saviour's praise to light!

Come forth, my lifeless tongue
Thy King demands my praise;
His glories have not all been sung
Who holdeth endless days.
Awake! be silent nevermore,
But ceaselessly thy God adore!

—Zachary Pletan, on James 3:2–12

Thoughts

So I wrote this maybe a year ago, forgot about it, found it again, and figured I oughta get it up here before somebody dies of old age. The idea was to set it to a lengthened version of FESTAL SONG, which I'll transcribe if it's ever important, I guess.