Christ My Song - 61
If I only have thee (Novalis/George W. Bethune/
Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
If I only have thee.
1. If I only have thee,
if only mine thou art,
and to the grave
thy power to save
upholds my faithful heart, –
naught can then my soul annoy,
lost in worship, love, and joy. PDF - Midi
2. If I only have thee,
I gladly all forsake.
To follow on
where thou hast gone,
my pilgrim staff I take;
leaving other men to stray
in the bright, broad, crowded way.
3. If I only have thee,
if only thou art near,
in sweet repose
my eyes shall close,
nor Death's dark shadow fear;
and thy heart's flood through my breast,
gently charm my soul to rest.
4. If I only have thee,
then all the world is mine;
like those who gaze
upon the rays
that from thy glory shine,
rapt in holy thought of thee,
earth can have no gloom for me.
5. Where I only have thee,
there is my fatherland;
for everywhere
the gifts I share
from thy wide-spreading hand;
and in all my human kind,
long-lost brothers dear I find.
George W. Bethune, in: Philip Schaff: Christ in Song, 1870, 399-400.
Translated from the German Wenn ich ihn nur habe of Novalis.