Sincere thanks to the Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir for this wonderful recording, which has been lightly edited. For song description and sheet music, see below.

Description: This 6-part, SSATBB a cappella song is based on a remarkable short poem by Emily Dickinson and, is dedicated to my two dear grandmothers: Mary Rain and Gladys Winch. Dickinson’s poem is sometimes referred to as Poem 478 or by its first line: “I had no time to Hate.” For me, however, her poem does touch on Hate, but even more so, Love. And although it is written in first person singular, the poem does feel like a call to action, a way of guiding us in the “Hate and Love” choices that we’ll inevitably have to face in our own lives. Hence, in a world where Hate so often rises to the surface, I was guided towards this as my song title — “Let’s toil for Love not Hate” — which acknowledges, for every one of us, that there is indeed a choice to be made.

Sheet music (SSATBB): soon available at https://musicspoke.com/composers/davidrain.