Indexes for The Sacred Harp, 2025 Edition
100 The Bower of Prayer
Words: Thomas Ormsby, 1823
Music: Arr. E. J. King, 1844. Alto Anna Blackshear, 1902
Meter: 11s.
To leave my dear friends, and with neighbors to part,
And go from my home, it affects not my heart
Like thoughts of absenting myself for a day
From that blest retreat where I’ve chosen to pray.
Dear bow’r, where the pine and the poplar have spread,
And wove with the branches a roof o’er my head!
How oft have I knelt on the evergreen there,
And poured out my soul to my Savior in prayer.
The early shrill notes of the loved nightingale
That dwelt in my bow’r I observed as my bell,
To call me to duty, while birds of the air
Sang anthems of praise as I went to my prayer.
And go from my home, it affects not my heart
Like thoughts of absenting myself for a day
From that blest retreat where I’ve chosen to pray.
Dear bow’r, where the pine and the poplar have spread,
And wove with the branches a roof o’er my head!
How oft have I knelt on the evergreen there,
And poured out my soul to my Savior in prayer.
The early shrill notes of the loved nightingale
That dwelt in my bow’r I observed as my bell,
To call me to duty, while birds of the air
Sang anthems of praise as I went to my prayer.