Through the centuries in the solace of a church we hear music. These soaring vaulted often beautiful pieces of architecture have borne witness to hymns that change our emotions and fortify our spirit through life, death and celebrations and memorials of every type in between. Whether you are of a Christian faith or not, it is difficult to deny that these hymns create something stirring something magical which shouldn't be surprising when you hear the original poems. They speak with clarity and purpose, uplifting the heart and the soul, rejoicing God's work and man's pledge to do better in His eyes. But Hymns also have a wider duty to perform as there are many facets, themes and help on how to live lives as ourselves and appreciate each other as well as nature. In listening each of us can be swayed and persuaded on a number of levels.

However many poets have called their work 'a Hymn' and have explored its theme and its definition, in different ways. They can be more irreverent and suggest that hymns can come not from churches but other places - even watermelon pavilions.

One of the purposes of poems, of verse, of words, is to bring a subject into our view, imbue it with a little understanding and perhaps help us to confirm our opinions or hear in a way we might not have originally thought of it. Seeing and hearing through others can be a way to find more complex ripples of knowledge or to challenge what we hold and adjust that thinking.

In this volume we bring you a wide range of Hymns from the religious and the devotional to the humane and the wonderful.