HHYC Bon Voyage Concert Texts and Translations

Now shall my inward joys arise,
And burst into a Song.
Almighty love inspires my Heart,
And pleasure tunes my tongue.

God on his thirsty Zion hill,
Some mercy drops has thrown,
And solemn oaths have bound his love
To shower salvation down.

Why do we then indulge our fears,
Suspicions, and complaints?
Is he a God, and shall his grace
Grow weary of his saints?

Can a kind woman e’er forget
The infant of her womb?
And ‘mongst a thousand tender thoughts
Her suckling have no room?

“Yet,” saith the Lord, “Should nature change,
And mothers monsters prove,
Zion still dwells upon the heart
Of everlasting love.

“Deep on the palms of both my hands
I have engraved her name;
My hands shall raise her ruined walls,
And build her broken frame?”

Almighty God when round thy shrine,
The palm tree’s heavenly branch we twine,
Emblem of life’s eternal ray,
And love that fadeth not away,

We bless the flow’rs expanded all,
We bless the leaves that never fall,
And trembling say in Eden thus,
Thy tree of life will flow’r for us,

When round thy cherubs smiling calm,
Without their flames, we wreathe the palm,
O God we feel the emblem true,
Thy mercy is eternal too,

Those cherubs, with their smiling eyes
That crown of palm that never dies,
Are but the types of thee above,
Eternal life, and peace, and love.

Beyond the East sunrise, beyond the West sea,
And East and West the wander-thirst that will not let me be;
It works in me like a madness, dear,
A madness to bid me say goodbye;
For the seas call and the stars call,
And Oh! the call of the sky.
I know not where the white road runs,
Nor what the blue hills are,
But a man can have the Sun for a friend,
And for his guide a star;
And there’s no end of voyaging
When once the voice is heard,
For the river calls, and the road calls,
And oh! the call of a bird!

Yonder the horizon lies, and there by night and day
The old ships draw to home again,
The young ships sail away;
And come I may, but go I must, and if men ask you why,
You may put the blame on the stars,
And the sun, and the white road and the sky.

The summer clouds go sailing by
Like silver ships across the sky,
Or stretching out like furrowed plain,
Or white-capped billows on the main.
What matters how their course we view,
If now and then the blue peeps through?
Sometimes they rise like mountain bold,
Peak after peak, all tinged with gold,
Sometimes they frown, sometimes are gray
Sometimes bring darkness while ‘tis day.
What matters when we know ‘tis true:
The azure will soon come peeping through
For well we know the sky is there,
Above the clouds all bright and fair.
The silver ship and furrowed plain
And mountain break and billowy main.
Will pass: but skies are firm and true
The azure will l soon come peeping through.

So clouds must come into each life,
Some silver tinged, some gray with strife.
But God’s rich mercy, like the sky,
Broods over all as years go by.
And many be the clouds or few,
God’s love is always peeping though.

This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
And so do I;
When showers betumble the chestnut spikes,
And nestlings fly;
And the little brown nightingale bills his best,
And they sit outside at 'The Traveller's Rest,'
And maids come forth sprig-muslin drest,
And citizens dream of the south and west,
And so do I.

This is the weather the shepherd shuns,
And so do I;
When beeches drip in browns and duns,
And thresh and ply;
And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throe,
And meadow rivulets overflow,
And drops on gate bars hang in a row,
And rooks in families homeward go,
And so do I.

My life is a pathway of sorrow;
I’ve struggled and toiled in the sun
with hope that the dawn of tomorrow
would break on a work that is done.
My Master has pointed the way,
he taught me in prayer to say:
“Lord, give us this day and our daily bread.”
I hunger, yet I shall be fed.
My feet, they are wounded and dragging;
My body is tortured with pain;
My heart, it is shattered and flagging,
What matter, if, Heaven I gain.
Of happiness once I have tasted;
‘Twas only an instant it paused
tho’ brief was the hour that I wasted
For ever the woe that it caused
I’m tired and want to go home.
My mother and sister are there;
They’re waiting for me to come
Where mansions are bright and fair.

Way down yonder in the middle of the fiel’,
Angel a-workin’ at the chariot wheel.
Not so partic’lar 'bout workin’ at the wheel,
I jus’ wan’ to see how the chariot feel.
Oh, let me fly, to Mount Zion, Lord.
Meet that hypocrite on the street,
First thing he do is show his teeth.
Next thing he do is tell a lie.
Well, the best thing to do is pass him by.
I got a mother in the Promised Land.
Well, I ain’t gonna stop ‘til I shake her hand.
Not so partic’lar ‘bout shakin’ her hand,
But I jus’ want to get to the Promised Land.
I heard such a rumbalin’ in the sky,
I thought my Lord was passin’ by.
‘Twas the good ol’ chariot drawin’ nigh,
Shook the earth, swept the sky.
I want wings, I want to fly, oh Lord, I wan’ to fly,
Oh won’t you let me fly to Mount Zion, Lord.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

The Lord hath promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun

HHYC TOUR OF AUSTRIA

Texts + Translations

"O Music"

Non Nobis Domine

"Welcome as the Dawn of Day"

"Africa"

"Almighty God when round thy shrine"

“Go, Baffled Coward, Go,” from Samson, HWV 57

"Hark the Vesper Hymn is Stealing"

"Creation"

"Awake the Harp, the Lyre Awake!"

"Wander-Thirst"

"Summer Clouds"

"Weathers"

"Resignation"

"Deep River"

"City Called Heaven"

"Let Me Fly"

"I’m On My Way"

"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"

"Ezekiel Saw de Wheel"

"Amazing Grace"

"Peace I Leave With You"

"Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah