Tune: Down Ampney
('Come down, O love divine')
Psalm 84
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How amiable be
Your tabernacles, see
We, O LORD of hosts, there your presence be free
My soul longs, even faints
For your courts, no sin's taints
May e'er defile there, your love reigns, no restraints
My heart and flesh they cry
Out for you, you are nigh
The living God, you will not our needs deny
Yes, the sparrow has found
A house there, holy ground
And swallow too, nests they build, graces redound
Blesséd are they that dwell
In your house, they shall tell
Still of your praises, you have done all things well
Blessed they whose strength in you
Is, you will them renew
And in their hearts are your ways, ever good,true
They pass through valley low
Of Baca*, sorrows know (*Baca - valley of tears and sorrows)
There, but they turn tears of weeping to wells, so
Here be there refreshment
Rain too the LORD has sent
To fill the pools, the dry ground, effervescent
They go from strength to strength
Know more the depth, width, length
Of God's love, also too know its endless breadth
O you LORD God of hosts
Hear our prayer, our soul boasts
In you alone, you LORD reign over all coasts
Behold, our God, our shield
Help us to our lives yield
To you, look on us, you have to us revealed
Great treasures of your grace
By faith we see your face
And seek to follow you daily, even pace
For in your courts one day
Is better, now we say
Than a thousand elsewhere, all the world's array
I desire humble task
A doorkeeper, I ask
To be in your house, than in wicked's tents bask
For the LORD shield and sun
He is to every one
That walks uprightly, He will aid, forget none
Will give grace and glory
Pleasant our state shall be
He in us, we in Him, through eternity
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Author:
orchidee (
Offline) - Published: January 7th, 2018 03:21
- Comment from author about the poem: A hymn-poem in 6.6.11. 6.6.11. metre.
- Category: Spiritual
- Views: 19
Offline)
Comments2
We all pass through that valley of tears and sorrows sometimes, and your poem offers a way out of it!
Thanks Fred. The tune name, Down Ampney, is a village in England, UK.
Do you know why that village name was chosen?
Ahh, I found out - The Old Vicarage in Down Ampney was the birthplace of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the composer of the tune of the hymn. The tune was named in honour of him. The hymn is very old (old as me!), by Bianco da Siena, an Italian mystic poet around 1367-1434 (mid14th to mid 15th Century).
Wow! Thank you! Forget wikipedia, you are a lot better!!!
Erm, I looked it all up - the tune info! I'm not an authority on hymn tunes and origins!
Amen.
Thanks Gold.
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