A city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Hebrews 11:10
Words: Mary A. McKee, in Songs of Perfect Love, edited by R. Kelso Carter & John R. Sweney (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: John J. Hood, 1886), number 55.
Music: Linköping Adam Geibel (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of McKee (head-and-shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
With mansions of fairness,
And beauty, and rareness,
And streets with a pavement of gold;
Where no one grows weary,
No prospect is dreary,
And no one can ever grow old.
Refrain
Oh, there is a city, a beautiful city,
Whose builder and maker is God;
A far away city, a wonderful city,
The beautiful city of God.
Its rivers of gladness
Will banish all sadness,
And sorrows shall vanish away;
The moon shall not lighten,
The sun shall not brighten,
That city by night or by day.
Refrain
But light will be given,
All storm clouds be riven,
From over that city of God;
We’ll view then in wonder,
Thro’ all that may sunder,
The path that in sorrow we trod.
Refrain
No sorrow or sighing,
Nor anguish or dying,
Can shadow the bliss of that home;
And pilgrims who rest there,
Forever are blest there,
Nor yearn in their rapture to roam.
Refrain