The New English Hymnal ‎#326a

326a. Brief life is here our portion

1 Brief life is here our portion,
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life is there.

2 O happy retribution,
Short toil, eternal rest;
For mortals and for sinners
A mansion with the blest.

3 There grief is turned to pleasure,
Such pleasure as below
No human voice can utter,
No human heart can know.

4 For he whom now we trust in
Shall then be seen and known,
And they that know and see him,
Shall have him for their own.

5 The morning shall awaken,
The shadows shall decay,
And each true-hearted servant
Shall shine as doth the day.

6 Then all the halls of Sion
For ay shall be complete,
And in the Land of Beauty,
All things of beauty meet.

Text Information

• First Line: Brief life is here our portion
• Latin Title: Hic breve vivitur
• Author: Bernard of Cluny, 12th century
• Translator: J. M. Neale, 1818-66
• Meter: 76 76
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1986
• Topic: Sickness and Health: Funerals and the Departed

Tune Information

• Name: DEVONSHIRE
• Meter: 76 76
• Key: F Major
• Source: North Devon folk song collected by Miss L. E. Broadwood