Awoke with this song in my heart this morning:
There’s a light upon the mountains, and the day is at the spring,
When our eyes shall see the beauty and the glory of the King;
Weary was our heart with waiting, and the night-watch seemed so long;
But his triumph-day is breaking, and we hail it with a song.
In the fading of the starlight we can see the coming morn;
And the lights of men are paling in the splendors of the dawn;
For the eastern skies are glowing as with lights of hidden fire,
And the hearts of men are stirring with the throb of deep desire.
There’s a hush of expectation, and a quiet in the air;
And the breath of God is moving in the fervent breath of prayer:
For the suffering, dying Jesus is the Christ upon the throne,
And the travail of our spirit is the travail of his own.
He is breaking down the barriers, he is casting up the way;
He is calling for his angels to build up the gates of day:
But his angels here are human, not the shining hosts above;
For the drum-beats of his army are the heart-beats of our love.
Hark! We hear a distant music, and it comes with fuller swell;
‘Tis the triumph-song of Jesus, of our King, Immanuel:
Zion, go ye forth to meet him; and, my soul, be swift to bring
All thy finest and thy noblest for the triumph of our King!
–Henry Burton (1840-1930)