Hymnal: The Christian Psalmist
Date: 1850
Compiler: Silas W Leonard and A D Fillmore
Publisher/Printer: S W Leonard
First Line: O had I the wings of a dove
Topic: <no topic given>
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer: S Leonard
Meter: PM
Tune: Longing for heaven
Hymn Number: <no hymn number given>
Page Number: 270, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsO had I the wings of a dove I would fly
Away to my home and for ev-er re-side
With Angels and glorified spirits on high,
Who fast by the throne of my Saviour a-bide;
The days of my sorrowing then should be past,
My warfare and pilgrimage both should be o'er;
Safe, safe in the climes of bright glo-ry at last,
Where sin and where suf-'ring are heard of no more.
Oh! there I should range, with the saints in pure white,
The banks of the river that flows from the throne;
But ever return from each feebler delight,
To feast on the smile of my Saviour alone:
If here, in the gloom of this dungeon below,
The light of that smile pierce the gross walls of clay,
What triumphs of rapture incessantly flow
From that blessed smile in the regions of day!
The fields of that land may forever be green,
Its flowers ne'er wither, nor fruitage decay,
And autumn and spring hand in hand may be seen,
Like beauty and wealth in their bridal array:
Each sight may be charming, ecstatic each sound;
Each odor be fragrant as gales of the spring;
But all beauties mingle, and all joys are found
Alone in the smile of my Saviour and King.
With patriarchs, prophets, and sages of old,
Who walked with their God in this valley of tears-
With saints and with martyrs in life's book enrolled,
Methinks I might joyfully spend the long years:
With angels how happily could I unite-
They watched o'er my pathway with dangers bestrown;
But still I would turn, with increasing delight,
To feast on the smile of my Saviour alone.