“But thou hast been weary of me, O, Israel!”
I was weary of the Savior,
Turn’d my heart to other love;
Deeply griev’d at my behavior,
Soon he call’d me from above;
Drew me gently,
Bound me with the cords of love.
This delightful bondage breaking,
Soon my footsteps roam’d away;
He, in grief at my forsaking,
Follow’d me the livelong day;
Woo’d me sweetly,
Words of love I heard him say.
In his garden I was sleeping,
There he came to seek for me;
On his head night-dews were weeping,
Yet he called me tenderly,
“My beloved!
Come, my fair one! come to me!”
Yet I left this heavenly Lover,
Though his lips like lilies were;
Once again became a rover,
Turned away from one so fair;
Still he follow’d—
Watch’d me with untiring care.
Last of all he sent in sorrow,
Call’d my idols all away;
For the sake of bright to-morrow,
Darken’d all my joys to-day;
And he whisper’d,
“Come, my fair one! come away!
“I’m in all thy griefs a sharer,
Thy afflictions all are mine;
’Tis, my love! to draw thee nearer
To my heart, I’m breaking thine;
I have won thee,
Won thy heart by love divine!
“’Tis in mercy I have pain’d thee,
Wand’rer in a desert wild;
Now I know that I have gain’d thee,
O, my love! my undefiled!”
Thus he soothed me,
With his accents sweet and mild.
Now I follow where he leads me,
I am his, and he is mine;
With the richest love he feeds me,
While upon him I recline;
Gazing upward,
On his eyes I fasten mine!