Absent from flesh! O blissful thought!
What unknown joys this moment brings!
Freed from the mischiefs sin has brought,
From pains, and fears, and all their springs.
Absent from flesh! illustrious day!
Surprising scene! triumphant stroke
That rends the prison of my clay;
And I can feel my fetters broke.
Absent from flesh! then rise, my soul,
Where feet nor wings could never climb,
Beyond the heavens, where planets roll,
Measuring the cares and joys of time.
I go where God and glory shine,
His presence makes eternal day:
My all that's mortal I resign,
For angels wait and point my way.
The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts, 1806
First Line: | Absent from flesh! O blissful thought! |
Author: | Isaac Watts |
Meter: | 8.8.8.8 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Absent from flesh, O blissful thought. I. Watts. [Death.] This hymn is part of a poem on “Death and Heaven," in five Lyric Odes, of which it is No. 2:—"The Departing Moment; or Absent from the Body," and is in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. These Odes appeared in Dr.Watts's Reliquiae Juveniles, 1734. This ode is not in extensive use, although found in a few collections in Great Britain, and America. It is given, in a slightly altered form, in the New Congregational Hymn Book, No. 723. The original text is not found in modern collections. [William T. Brooke]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)