O that I could for ever dwell,
Delighted, at the Savior’s feet,
Behold the form I love so well,
And all His tender words repeat.
The world shut out from all my soul,
And Heav’n brought in with all its bliss—
O is there aught from pole to pole,
One moment to compare to this!
This is the hidden life I prize—
A life of penitential love;
When most my follies I despise,
And raise my highest thoughts above.
Thus would I live till nature fail,
And all my former sins forsake;
Then rise to God within the veil,
And of eternal joys partake.