1 The Church has waited long
Her absent Lord to see;
And still in loneliness she waits,
A friendless stranger she.

2 How long, O Lord our God,
Holy and true and good,
Wilt thou not judge thy suffering Church,
Her sighs and tears and blood?

3 Saint after saint on earth,
Has lived and loved and died;
And as they left us, one by one,
We laid them side by side.

4 We laid them down to sleep,
But not in hope forlorn;
We left them but to slumber there,
Till the last glorious morn.

5 We long to hear thy voice,
To see thee face to face,
To share thy crown and glory then,
As now we share thy grace.

6 Come, Lord, and wipe away
The curse, the sin, the stain,
And make this blighted world of ours
Thine own fair world again.