Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Friday, August 13, 2021

"The Day Is Surely Drawing Near"

When "The Day Is Surely Drawing Near" was one of the hymns in a Worship Anew service last year, I noticed a particular feature in the structure of the verses, specifically as it applies to the second verse:
The final trumpet then shall sound
And all the earth be shaken,
And all who rest beneath the ground
Shall from their sleep awaken.
But all who live will in that hour,
By God's almighty, boundless pow'r,
Be changed at His commanding.
The rhyme scheme here is ABABCCD.  Each of the first six lines has a complement that rhymes with it, but the last line doesn't.  Significantly, this break in the pattern coincides with the line in the verse that describes being "changed."