Download: Music (mp3) | Score (png)
1. Life is full of trouble;
Fleet as foam before the wind,
Frail as water bubble,
E’en as clover,
Summer over,
Wither’d grass and stubble.
Noting time on dial,
Death with bony hand doth break
Gilt and crystal vial:
Or will shatter
Earthen platter,
Brooking no denial.
Thro’ town, o’er down and dale,
Or where ocean surges,
Grim death his palfrey pale
Daily, nightly urges:
At his passing,
Knells are clashing,
Requiems and dirges.
Repeat
2. Therefore, man, with harrow
Break the fallow of thine heart;
Ere death wing his arrow,
Ere thou diest,
Ere thou liest
In thy grave-bed narrow.
Now, betime discerning
Everlasting weal or woe,
Soul, to God returning,
In faith’s college,
Gain true knowledge,
Wisdom worth the learning.
So need’st thou nothing fear,
Man, nor foe infernal;
But may’st at doomsday hear
From the King supernal
(Through repentance)
Joyful sentence,–
“Enter life eternal.”
Repeat
Details
Author: G.R. Woodward (Job 14:1-15)
Composer: Piae Cantiones (1582)
Meter: mixed
Song in the Night: Page 30
