Be Thou My Vision

256 Be Thou My Vision

1. Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
   Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
   Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
   Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

2. Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
   I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
   Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
   Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

3. Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
   Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
   Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
   High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

4. High King of Heaven, my victory won,
   May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
   Heart of my own heart, whate’er befall,
   Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
                         Ancient Irish
                         Trans. by Mary E. Byrne
                         Versed by Eleanor H. Hull
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
This is one of my favorite hymns, so I was very surprised to see that it only occurs in a little more than 150 hymnals. The Methodist hymnal also excised the third verse:

3. Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
   Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
   Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:
   Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.

We know nothing about the versifier, sadly, and precious little about the translator. Apparently, this is the only thing she translated.
</idle musing>