Author: Karl Philipp Spitta (1801-1859) Composer: Melchior Teschner, 1613 (1584-1635)
1. Why should ye all be weeping And break my very heart? We’re in the Saviour’s keeping And shall not therefore part. No time nor place can sever The bonds which us have bound; In Christ abide forever, Who once in Him were found.
2. As though to part forever We press each other’s hands; And yet no pow’r can sever Our love’s eternal bands. We look quite brokenhearted And sob our last farewell, And yet cannot be parted, For we in Jesus dwell.
3. We say: “I here, you yonder; You go and I remain,” And yet are not asunder, But links of one great chain. In tones of deep affection, “Our ways part here,” we say, Yet go in one direction And in the selfsame way.
4. Then let us cease from weeping And moderate our woe, For we are in Christ’s keeping With whom we always go. Thus under His protection We’re led by His sure hand, And in the same direction To the same Fatherland.
5. Then not to parting’s sorrows We dedicate this hour, But to renew our union With Christ, our rock and tow’r. If faith in Him unite us, Though parting gives us pain, It cannot disunite us For we in Him remain.