The Cyber Hymnal ‎#12601

12601. Oft Have I Sat In Secret Sighs

1 Oft have I sat in secret sighs
To feel my flesh decay;
Then groaned aloud with frighted eyes,
To view the tottering clay.

2 But I forbid my sorrows now,
Nor dares the flesh complain;
Diseases bring their profits, too;
The joy o’ercomes the pain.

3 My cheerful soul now all the day
Sits waiting here and sings;
Looks thro’ ruins of her clay,
And practices her wings.

4 Faith almost changes into sight,
While from afar she spies
Her fair inheritance, in light
Above created skies.

5 Had but the prison walls been strong
And firm, without a flaw,
In darkness she had dwelt too long
And less of glory saw.

6 But now the everlasting hills
Through every chink appear,
And something of the joy she feels
While she’s a prisoner here.

7 Bright Heaven rushes sweetly in
At all the gaping flaws;
Of endless bliss are visions seen;
And native air she draws.

8 O may these walls stand tottering still,
The breaches never close,
If I must here in darkness dwell,
And all this glory lose!

9 O rather let this flesh decay;
The ruins wider grow,
Till, glad to see th’enlargèd way,
I stretch my pinions through.

Text Information

• First Line: Oft have I sat in secret sighs
• Title: Oft Have I Sat In Secret Sighs
• Author: Isaac Watts (alt.)
• Meter: CM
• Language: English
• Source: Horae Lyricae, 1706-09, Book 1
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Alternate tunes: OLD MARTYRS from "Psalms," 1615, SOHO by Joseph Barnby, ST. NICHOLAS by Maurice Greene

Tune Information

• Name: DUBLIN
• Composer: H. Bemrose (1889)
• Meter: CM
• Key: G Major or modal
• Source: Methodist Free Church Hymns with Tunes (London: Andrew Crombie, 1889)
• Copyright: Public Domain