For They Shall Be Comforted
Speak to our hearts, O Father! Say
What we have been to thee;
How we have wandered far away,
And hardly turned to see.
Then lifted hands will hide the face;
Then tears our grief will prove
That such hath been the Father’s grace,
And such the children’s love.
Then shall our spirits hold at once
A comfort and a pain;
For we shall know thy wandering sons
Are turning home again.
With such glad grief, such tearful joy,
Be our repentance blest;
Thy comfort then, without alloy,
Shall give us heavenly rest.