FAIN would I leave the world below, Of pain and sin the dark abode, Where...

FAIN would I leave the world below, Of pain and sin the dark abode, Where shadowy joy or solid woe Allures or tears me from my God; Doubtful and insecure of bliss, Since faith alone confirms me his.

Till then, to sorrow born, I sigh, And gasp and languish after home; Upward I send my streaming eye, Expecting till the Bridegroom come: Come quickly, Lord! thy own receive; Now let me see thy face, and live.

Absent from thee, my exiled soul Deep in a fleshly dungeon groans; Around me clouds of darkness roll, And labouring silence speaks my moans: Come quickly, Lord! thy face display, And look my darkness into day.

Sorrow, and sin, and death are o'er, If thou reverse the creature's doom; Sad Rachel weeps her loss no more, If thou, the God, the Saviour come; Of thee possessed, in thee we prove The light, the life, the heaven of love.