Dear vision of the blessèd—
How homelike heaven seems!
Sweet foretaste of the rapture
Exceeding all our dreams.
O Jesus, Shepherd, Saviour,
My guide and guardian be,
And bring me, through thy favor,
To dwell with them and thee.
OUR LIFE IS LENT.
Our life is Lent:
Our years are spent
In penance for the past;
Our songs are sighs,
Our brightest skies
With clouds are overcast.
Our life is Lent:
The old lament—
“All, all is vanity;”
And Youth, in tears,
Awaits with fears
The morrow’s mystery.
Our life is Lent:
Lord, we repent
Each folly, fault, and fall;
Our best resolve
Do thou absolve,—
Forgive, forget it all.
Our life is Lent:
Our hearts are rent,
As we thy gifts recount,
And mark again,
With bitter pain,
“The pattern in the mount.”
Our life is Lent:
Our strength is spent;
O holy Judge, and just,
Receive our prayer,—
Poor sinners spare;
Remember we are dust!
Our life is Lent:
But Jesus went
This way; in him confide;
’Twill soon be past;
Then, for thy fast,
Eternal Easter-tide!