O city girt with glory!

Thou scene of quiet rest,

Where dwells the King Eternal—

O beautiful and blest!

Thy streets are filled with glorious song,

The praises of a myriad throng.

With stones of polished beauty

Is reared thy structure fair;

And gems, and gold, and crystal

Are sparkling everywhere;

With pearls thy gates are glittering gay,

And golden is thy bright highway.

For ever and in sweetness

Are Alleluias given;

Unending is the feast day,

The royal feast of heaven;

Whate’er within thy walls is stored,

Is pure and holy to the Lord.

No clouds with sombre curtain

Thy glorious brightness screen;

There shines the Sun Eternal,

And aye at noonday seen;

There is no night to give repose,

For no one toil or trouble knows.

The vernal glow of springtime

Is bright and lasting there,

The wealth of summer’s richness

Is scattered everywhere;

And that fair realm can never know

The autumn’s blast or winter’s snow.

The notes that fall in sweetness,

Where birds in woodland sing;

The sounds of softest music,

That winds in summer bring,

Are wafted o’er that city bright,

In strains of unalloyed delight.

There youth adorned with vigour

Ne’er into age declines;

No aged fears the mortal,

Nor for the past repines;

For past and future are unknown:

The present reigns in heaven alone.

No fleshly law can triumph,

And over reason ride;

With bodies pure and stainless

The spirit shall abide;

And power of flesh, and power of will,

Shall both one common law fulfil.

O bright the heavenly glory,

This fragile frame shall wear,

When health, and strength, and freedom

Shall crown with beauty rare;

And pleasure’s draughts no sorrow know,

But everlasting joys bestow.

Now gladly bear the burden;

With zeal thy task maintain,

And gifts shall crown thy labour,

And all thy loss be gain,

When decked with splendour thou shalt be,

Where glory dwells eternally.