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Thursday, January 14, 2016

The Return Home.

Hallelujah Meter (6.6.6.6.8.8.)

1 Safe Home, safe Home in port!
--Rent cordage, shattered deck,
Torn sails, provisions short,
And only not a wreck:
But oh! the joy upon the shore
To tell our voyage perils o’er!

2 The prize, the prize secure!
The athlete nearly fell;
Bare all he could endure,
And bare not always well:
But he may smile at troubles gone
Who sets the victor-garland on!

3 No more the foe can harm
No more of leaguered camp,
And cry of night-alarm,
And need of ready lamp:
And yet how nearly he had failed,—
How nearly had that foe prevailed!

4 The lamb is in the fold
In perfect safety penned:
The lion once had hold,
And thought to make an end:
But One came by with Wounded Side,
And for the sheep the Shepherd died.

5 The exile is at Home!
--O nights and days of tears,
O longings not to roam,
O sins and doubts and fears,--
What matter now (when so men say)?
The King has wiped those tears away!

6 O happy, happy Bride!
Thy widowed hours are past,
The Bridegroom at thy side,
Thou all His own at last!
The sorrows of thy former cup
In full fruition swallowed up!

--Original Latin by Joseph of the Studium; Translated by J. M. Neale (1862)

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