The Heart in Tune

Be the heart in tune within,
All without runs smooth and even,

Be the heart in tune within,
All without runs smooth and even,
And earth’s objects seem to win
Something of the hues of heaven:
Clouds from off our sky are flown;
All grows bright around and o’er us;
Life acquires a loftier tone,
And hope dances light before us:

Music comes in every gale;
Flowers in all our paths are blowing;
Prosperous winds fill every sail;
Tides are ever fair and flowing:
Time adds feathers to his wing;
Grief of half his load is lightened;
Life’s destresses lose their sting,
And its every joy is heightened.

Then the waste, where’er we roam,
Gushes with refreshing fountains;
Then between us and our home
Ope the seas, and sink the mountains:
Faith is strong, and views are clear;
Foes and fears no more confound us;
Ministering angels near,
And an Eden opening round us:

Nature through her wide domain
Quits her air of ruined sadness,
Kindles into smiles again,
Wakes anew to song and gladness:
God amid His works appears,
Calls his creatures to adore Him;
And this world of sin and tears
Blossoms as the rose before Him.

If His gospel then be heard,
Soon the inmost soul it reaches;
God speaks home in every word,
Christ again in person teaches;
Ever promise is applied,
Power to every precept given,
And the Spirit and the Bride
Point and woo us on to heaven.

Prayer and praise are easy then,
From the soul spontaneous flowing;
And with love to God and men
Tenderly the heart is glowing.
All our duties lighter grow;
Pleasant seems the meanest station;
And from light to light we go
To the fulness of salvation.

Be our spirits ever such,
Tuned into harmonious meetness,
Till their chords to every touch
Answer in some tone of sweetness;
Quickened by celestial grace,
Purified of earthly leaven,
Shining, like the Prophet’s face,
With a glory caught from heaven.

Henry Francis Lyte