O, Mother Dear, Jerusalem

(A hymn/poem about heaven.  Singable to "America the Beautiful")

O mother dear, Jerusalem*,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end,
Thy joys when shall I see?
O happy harbor of God's saints!
O sweet and pleasant soil!
In thee no sorrow may be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.

Thy gardens and thy gallant walks
Continually are green;
 There grow such sweet and pleasant flow’rs,
As nowhere else are seen.
 There trees forever more bear fruit,
And evermore do spring,
There evermore the angels sit,
And evermore do sing.

 

Jerusalem, my happy home,
Would God I were in thee!
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see!

No murky cloud o'ershadows thee,
 Nor gloom, nor darksome night;
 But every soul shines as the sun,
 For God Himself gives light.

  

by  F.B.P.; medieval  (one version of this was sung to the tune "Materna", which we now sing "America the Beautiful" to; that song originally had a different tune.