1. And is the lovely shadow fled,
The blooming wonder of her years,
So soon enshrined among the dead
She justly claims our pious tears,
Who to those heavenly spirits join’d
Hath left our wretched world behind.
2. Her early short-lived excellence
With meek submission we bemoan,
Snatch’d in a fatal moment hence,
Gone from our arms, to Jesus gone,
To heighten by her swift remove
The grief below, and joy above.
3. In vain the dear departing saint
Forbids our gushing tears to flow,
“Forbear, my friends, your fond complaint
From earth to heaven I gladly go
To glorious company above,
Bright angels, and the God of love.
4. “O praise him, and rejoice for me
So happy, happy, in my God!
So soon from all my pain set free,
And hasten to that blest abode,
With swift desire my steps pursue,
And take the prize prepared for you.
5. “Meet am I for the great reward,
The great reward, I know, is mine:
Come, O my sweet redeeming Lord,
Open those loving arms of thine,
And take me up thy face to see,
And let me die to live with thee.”
6. The prayer is sealed, the soul is fled,
And sees her Savior face to face:
But still she speaks to us, tho’ dead,
She calls us to that heavenly place,
Where all the storms of life are o’er,
And pain and parting is no more.
English text