The Cyber Hymnal ‎#16824

16824. Hours and Days and Years and Ages

1 Hours and days and years and ag­es
Swift as mov­ing sha­dows flee;
As we scan life’s fleet­ing pag­es,
Naught en­dur­ing do we see:
On the paths our feet are wend­ing,
Footprints all will be ef­faced;
Present time to past is tend­ing,
Though its page is not erased.

2 They’ve de­part­ed who have borne us,
And we flour­ish on their graves;
Soon our child­ren will be­wail us,
Dropping off like fall­ing leaves;
Dust of life, which time doth ga­ther,
In the grave of death is stored;
Without Thee, Eter­nal Fa­ther,
What is man on earth, O Lord?

3 Yet though time doth all things con­quer,
It doth not our lot de­cide;
Thou alone, Eter­nal Fa­ther,
Dost for aye our Lord ab­ide.
And when dan­gers round us ga­ther,
They can­not our souls mo­lest;
In Thy Son Thou art our Father,
In Thy love our heart dost rest.

4 Speed along, then, years and ag­es,
With your glad­ness and your pain;
E’en when deep­est sor­row rag­es,
Faithful doth our God re­main;
Tho’ all earth­ly friends for­sake us,
Guided by His lov­ing hand,
To His heart we’ll aye be­take us,
Looking tow’rd our Fa­ther­land.

Text Information

• First Line: Hours and days and years and ages
• Title: Hours and Days and Years and Ages
• Author: Leonard P. Brink (1929)
• Meter: 87.87 D
• Language: English
• Source: in The New Christian Hymnal, edited by Henry J. Kuiper (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1929)

Tune Information

• Name: O DU LIEBE
• Meter: 87.87 D
• Key: G Major or modal
• Source: Erbaulicher musikalischer Christen-Schatz, by Johann Thommen (Basel: Switzerland: Daniel Eckenstein, 1745)