MY LORD AND I

I have a Friend so precious,

So very dear to me,

He loves me with such tender love,

He loves so faithfully,

I could not live apart from him,

I love to feel him nigh;

And so we dwell together,

My Lord and I.

Sometimes I'm faint and weary;

He knows that I am weak,

And as he bids me lean on him

His help I gladly seek;

He leads me in the paths of light

Beneath a sunny sky,

And so we walk together,

My Lord and I.

He knows how much I love him,

He knows I love him well,

But with what love he loveth me

My tongue can never tell.

It is an everlasting love

In ever rich supply,

And so we love each other,

My Lord and I.

I tell him all my sorrows,

I tell him all my joys,

I tell him all that pleases me,

I tell him what annoys.

He tells me what I ought to do,

He tells me how to try,

And so we talk together,

My Lord and I.

He knows how I am longing

Some weary soul to win,

And so he bids me go and speak

The loving word for him.

He bids me tell his wondrous love,

And why he came to die,

And so we work together,

My Lord and I.

I have his yoke upon me,

And easy 'tis to bear;

In the burden which he carries

I gladly take a share;

For then it is my happiness

To have him always nigh;

We bear the yoke together,

My Lord and I.

--L. Shorey.

Ever, when tempted, make me see,

Beneath the olive's moon-pierced shade,

My God alone, outstretched and bruised,

And bleeding on the earth he made;

And make me feel it was my sin,

As though no other sin there were,

That was to him who bears the world

A load that he could scarcely bear.

--Frederick William Faber.