The Prodigal Son (Guild)

Here feast I at my Father's board

Author: Marion P. Guild (before 1918)
Tune: SHELTERED DALE
Published in 1 hymnal

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1. Here feast I at my Father’s board
Who starved among the swine;
For me must every foot be fleet
And every lamp must shine;
For me the merry music sounds,
The dancers dip and twine.

2. My heart beats fast against my robe,
The best robe, soft and red;
With sobbing breath and tightening throat
And tears in rapture shed,
I feel His ring upon my hand,
His blessings on my head.

3. Ah, bitter was the way, and oft
My blood my path would trace;
And guilt and grief and stabbing shame
With all my steps kept pace;
And yet I famished not for bread
So sore as for His face.

4. The road seemed endless. On I fared,
Wresting each mile from death;
Then such an awe upon me fell
I scarce could draw my breath;
My spirit felt His coming as
Of one that succoreth.

5. Blind, fainting, to His mighty breast
He caught and held me fast;
I knew the fortress of His arms
About my weakness cast;
And, when He kissed my traitor cheek,
I guessed His heart at last.

6. The piteous words I oft had conned
I trembling strove to say;
But sudden glory round me poured
A brighter, richer day.
In wonderment I lifted up
My head that drooping lay.

7. The glory streamed from out His eyes,
As from all Beauty’s throne.
O depths of love unthinkable
That in that splendor shone!
O pain of love that travaileth
And bleedeth for its own.

8. O gleam of wisdom hoar with eld
Ere sang the stars of morn!
O shifting, blending, dazzling lights
That thrilled my hope forlorn
To undreamed miracles of joy
And surge of life reborn!

9. He brought me home, and here I sit,
Even in my boyhood’s place;
And on my very soul is stamped
Each largess of His grace;
But still transfiguring all I see
That radiance of His face!

Author: Marion P. Guild

Guild graduated from Wellesley College in 1880 and later taught there. Her works include: Semper Plus Ultra (Boston, Massachusetts: The Fort Hill Press, 1906) Wellesley College—Her Story and Her Need, in The New England Magazine, Volume LII, number 2, October 1914, pp. 57-73 Selected Poems of Katharine Lee Bates, 1930 --www.hymntime.com/tch/  Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Here feast I at my Father's board
Title: The Prodigal Son (Guild)
Author: Marion P. Guild (before 1918)
Meter: 8.6.8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #5681
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The Cyber Hymnal #5681

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