“I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK.”
Ah, tell me not of gold and treasure,
Of pomp and beauty here on earth!
There's not a thing that gives me pleasure
Of all the world displays for worth.
Each heart will seek and love its own;
My goal is Christ and Christ alone. In him I find my exaltation,
My fairest visions of delight;
I feed mine eyes, mine expectation,
On him alone, my Rest, my Light.
Each heart will seek and love its own;
My goal is Christ and Christ alone. The world and her pursuits will perish;
Her beauty's fading like a flower;
The brightest schemes the flesh can cherish
Are but the pastime of an hour.
Each heart will seek and love its own;
My goal is Christ and Christ alone. Against this tower there's no prevailing;
His kingdom passes not away;
His throne abides, despite assailing,
From henceforth unto endless day.
Each heart will seek and love its own;
My goal is Christ and Christ alone. His riches are too vast to measure;
His countenance is as the sun;
Apart from him there's nought of treasure;
He is the Changeless, Living One.
Each heart will seek and love its own;
My goal is Christ and Christ alone. However rough the road and dreary,
His glory marks me out a way;
Howe'er in need, distressed, and weary,
His strength, his grace, are as my stay.
Each heart will seek and love its own;
My goal is Christ and Christ alone. And though a pilgrim I must wander,
Still absent from the One I love,
He soon will have me with him yonder
In his own glory-realms above.
Triumphantly I therefore own
My goal is Christ and Christ alone.
—Translated from the German.