I am a guest upon the earth
and have no estate here:
Heaven is to be mine,
there is my homeland.
  Here I travel out and away,
there in the eternal rest
is God's gift of grace,
which brings all labour to an end.

From youth onward, what has 
my entire existence been
but toil and hardship?
As long as I can remember
  I have spent many a morning,
many a dear night
with misery and anxiety
in my heart.

Upon my way I have been frightened
by many a grim storm;
lightning, thunder, wind, and rain
have wakened many a fear in me;
  even through I have not been 
guilty of anything, I have 
had to endure persecution, hate, 
and envy with patience.

Thus it went for the dear pariarchs,
according to whose feet and path
we daily still direct our way
when we lack good counsel:
  How was Father Abraham 
obliged to cling [to God]
before he was endowed with
contentment and a proper dwelling place?

How many a heavy burden
did Isaac, his son, bear?
And Jacob, whose renown
Extends even to the heavenly throne,
  How did he have to labour!
into what woe and pain,
into what fear and trepidation
did his poor heart often sink!

The pious, holy souls,
they walked on and on
and, with agonies, they moved away from
their first habitation;
  they wandered hither and yon,
the cross [they had to bear] was always heavy,
until death laid them down
into the bosom of the grave.

I have surrendered myself
unto the same weal and woe:
Why should I desire to live better
than such great people?
  One must press through [such things],
one must suffer;
he who did not struggle well
does not enter into joy.

To be sure, I shall now endeavour
to lead my life in this world,
but I do not intend to remain
in this foreign tent.
  I wander my pathway
that leads to my [eternal] home,
where, beyond all measure,
my Father shall comfort me.

My home is there on high
where the host of all angels
praises the great Ruler,
who carries everything
  utterly and completely in His hands
and sustains it for ever and ever,
who also lifts and places everything
as it pleases Him.

To Him my yearning is directed,
I would dearly love to go hence:
I have walked through the world
so that I am almost weary of it:
  The longer I wander here,
the less I find joy
that pleases my spirit;
most of what is here is stench and clutter.

The shelter is too nasty,
there is too much of suffering.
Ah! come, my God, and deliver
my heart, if Thy heart wills it!
  Come, make a blessed end
to my pilgrimage,
and that which vexes me, turn it aside
through Thy arm and power!

There where I have sat until now
is not my rightful house.
When my goal has been set
I shall step forth from it,
  and that which I have needed down here
I shall put it all aside,
and when I have breathed my last,
then they shall bury me in my grave.

But Thou, my joy,
Thou, the light of my life,
may Thou draw me, when I die,
before Thy face,
  Into the house of eternal bliss,
where ever joyfully
like the bright sun, I am to
shine beside others.

There I wish to dwell always,
and not only as a guest,
with those whom Thou hast
adorned with crowns.
  There I wish to sing gloriously
of Thy great deeds
and, free of vile things,
rest in my heritage.