The Cyber Hymnal ‎#11884

11884. What I Have Done

1 Up and away, like the dew of the morning,
Soaring from earth to its home in the sun,
So let me steal away, gently and lovingly,
Only remembered by what I have done.

2 My name and place, and my grave, all forgotten,
My time’s brief race well and patiently run;
So let me pass away, peacefully, silently,
Only remembered by what I have done.

3 Gladly away from this toil would I hasten,
Up to the crown that for me has been won;
Unsung on earth in rewards or in praises,
Only remembered by what I have done.

4 Up and away like the odors of sunset,
Sweetening the twilight as darkness comes on,
So be my life, something felt but not noticed,
Only remembered by what I have done.

5 Yes, like the fragrance that wanders in freshness,
Blossoms it came from all closed up and gone,
So would I be to this world’s weary dwellers,
Only remembered by what I have done.

6 Need there be praise of the love-written record?
Name and an epitaph graven on stone?
Things I have lived for, let them be my story,
I but remembered by what I have done.

7 I need no shrine, if I have been bearing,
As summer, autumn, move silently on,
The bloom, the fruit and the seed of their season;
I’ll be remembered by what I have done.

8 No cause need fail, if another succeed me,
Reaping the fields which in spring I have sown;
Plower and sower not missed by the reaper,
Only remembered by what I have done.

9 No, not myself, but the truth I have spoken,
No, not myself, but the seed I have sown,
Pass down the ages, my name all forgotten,
Only the truth, and the things I have done.

10 As was my living, so be my dying;
So let my name lie, unblazoned, unknown;
Unpraised, unmissed, I shall still be remembered,
For God records all the things I have done.

Text Information

• First Line: Up and away, like the dew of the morning
• Title: What I Have Done
• Author: Horatius Bonar
• Adapter: Richard W. Adams (2018)
• Meter: 12.10.12.10
• Language: English
• Source: Hymns of Faith and Hope (London: James Lisbet, 1857)
• Copyright: Adapt. © 2018 Richard W. Adams These lyrics may be freely reproduced or published for Christian worship or devotions, provided they are not altered, & this notice is on each copy. All other rights reserved.

Tune Information

• Name: MONSELL
• Composer: William Fiske Sherwin, 1826-1888
• Meter: 12.10.12.10.
• Key: B♭ Major
• Copyright: Public Domain