“People, Look East” was written by Eleanor Farjeon, an English writer who lived from 1881-1965. Her many writings include poems, children’s stories and books, plays, operettas, biographies, and more. The prolific Farjeon, like some other notable great British writers, credited part of her love of storytelling to the imaginative games she and her older brother played as children, becoming book characters and acting things out in their everyday lives. The whole Farjeon family was really quite literary, with older brother Harry becoming a composer and music teacher, and younger brothers Joseph and Herbert joining Eleanor as writers. In her lifetime, Eleanor was friends with D.H. Lawrence, Robert Frost, and Walter de la Mare, among others.
Farjeon’s best known work is “Morning Has Broken”, that beautiful hymn in praise of each new day. Eleanor was asked to write a poem to be set to the hymn tune “Bunessan”, based on a Scottish folk tune. This new hymn was published in the 1931 hymnal Songs of Praise, and has been a staple of churchgoers ever since.
“People, Look East” is a lovely Advent hymn. Set to the French folk tune “Besancon”, the song was first published in 1928 in the Oxford Book of Carols, under the title “Carol of Advent”.
I love this Advent hymn. Each verse is sweet and the tune is happy and lilting. We look east to the dawn of a new day and to the dawn of the coming of the Savior. Enjoy!
- People, look East.
The time is near
of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair
as you are able,
trim the hearth
and set the table.
People, look East
and sing today –
Love, the Guest,
is on the way.
2. Furrows, be glad.
Though earth is bare,
one more seed
is planted there.
Give up your strength
the seed to nourish,
that is course
the flow’r may flourish.
People, look East
and sing today –
Love, the Rose,
is on the way.
(sometimes verse 3 is omitted, but it is perhaps my favorite of them all!)
3. Birds, though you long
have ceased to build,
guard the nest
that must be filled.
Even the hour
when wings are frozen
He for fledging time
has chosen.
People, look East
and sing today –
Love, the Bird,
is on the way.
4. Stars, keep the watch.
When night is dim,
one more light
the bowl shall brim,
shining beyond
the frosty weather,
bright as sun
and moon together.
People, look East
and sing today –
Love, the Star,
is on the way.
5. Angels announce
with shouts of mirth
Him who brings new life
to earth.
Set ev’ry peak and valley
humming
with the word,
the Lord is coming.
People, look East
and sing today –
Love, the Lord,
is on the way.
