Scripture Verse

O when wilt Thou come unto me? Psalm 101:2

Introduction

Words: Hen­ry V. Tebbs, 1851. Ap­peared in Frag­ments in Verse and Prose (Bris­tol, Eng­land: I. E. Chil­cott, print­er, 1873), page 60, alt. Tebbs wrote this hymn for his wife’s birth­day, March 16, 1851, and it cir­cu­lated in manu­script for some years. In 1866 it was print­ed in Hours at Home, by James Man­ning Sher­wood (New York: Charles Scrib­ner), then in the Hym­nal Com­pan­ion and oth­er col­lect­ions. It has been trans­lat­ed in­to 17 lang­uag­es, and has al­so been em­bossed for the blind (Ju­li­an, p. 1592).

Music: Mis­sion­ary Chant Hein­rich C. Zeu­ner, 1832 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Tebbs or Zeu­ner (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Come to me, Lord, when first I wake,
As faint the lights of morn­ing break;
Bid pure­st thoughts with­in me rise,
Like crys­tal dew-drops, to the skies.

Come to me in the sul­try noon;
Or earth’s com­mun­ings low will soon
Of Thy dear face eclipse the light,
And change my fair­est day to night.

Come to me in the ev­en­ing shade;
And if my heart from Thee has strayed,
Oh! bring it back, and from afar
Smile on me like Thine ev­en­ing star.

Come to me in the mid­night hour;
When sleep with­holds her bal­my pow­er,
Let my lone spir­it find its rest,
Like John, up­on my Sav­ior’s breast.

Come to me through life’s var­ied way;
And when its puls­es cease to play,
Then, Sav­ior, bid me come to Thee,
That where Thou art Thy child may be.