The shining hours of cheerful light
Are long and tedious years to me.

5 And if no evening visit's paid
Between my Saviour and my soul,
How dull the night! how sad the shade!
How mournfully the minutes roll!

6 This flesh of mine might learn as soon
To live, yet part with all my blood;
To breathe when vital air is gone,
Or thrive and grow without my food.

7 [Christ is my light, my life, my care,
My blessed hope, my heavenly prize,
Dearer than all my passions are,
My limbs, my bowels, or my eyes.

8 The strings that twine about my heart,
Tortures and racks may tear them off,
But they can never, never part
With their dear hold of Christ my love.]

9 [My God! and can an humble child
That loves thee with a flame so high,
Be ever from thy face exil'd
Without the pity of thine eye?

10 Impossible--For thine own hands
Have tied my heart so fast to thee;