Sunday, May 13, 2012

O My Mother

I normally change hymns to be more inclusive: "Father" to "Parents," for example, but just for Mother's Day, I thought it would be interesting to turn the tables on "O My Father." In this rendition,"Father" is "Mother" and vice versa.


O my Mother, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?

For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,”
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Mother,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a father there.

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Mother, Father, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

2 comments:

T said...

I couldn't get through singing "O My Father" on Mother's Day because I was crying so hard after the first verse. I felt so strongly throughout the whole song that She exists and loves me. (I also wonder what the poor brother sitting next to me was thinking. He came in in the middle of the song but sat next to me anyway, bless him. ^_^)

Sarah said...

I sang this, I didn't read it, I sang it, and I love it. I think it could be sang in both ways. With the men singing the O my Father version and the Women singing the O my Mother version. Something tells me I may be pushing it if I am ever a chorus leader, but I would have it sang this way, and I wouldn't ask the Bishop for permission, I would just do it. May get in trouble, but I don't care. This is too beautiful it must be sang.