Gladly Will I Leave Behind Me

Lyrics

Verse 1
Gladly will I leave behind me
All the sweetest hymns I sing
When I join the perfect worship
In the presence of my King
If perhaps I still hear echoes
Of the hymns that I have known
Greater still the joy to sing them
Gathered ‘round my Savior’s throne

Verse 2
Gladly will I leave behind me
Prophecies of future bright
When the cloudy glass is shattered
And at last my faith is sight
Though the promise quells my sorrow
Fills my heart with hope and grace
Sweeter still is its fulfillment
Meeting Jesus face to face

Verse 3
Gladly will I leave behind me
All except for those I love
When I trade this earthly dwelling
For the house of God above
Even here the promise reaches
That to die in Christ is gain
We will meet again in Heaven
Free from sin and death and pain

Audio Demo

Author & Composer

Lyrics by Daniel J. Mount; melody from The Christian Lyre (Joshua Leavitt, 1831), attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91)

Publishing Information

Completed on September 6, 2024.

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This song is also released for free non-commercial use under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Here’s a little more about what that means.

Sheet Music

Lead Sheet

Song Story

The title was inspired by a line from a hymn by Welsh hymnwriter Ann Griffiths (1776-1805). The hymn was titled “Now the Royal Seed are Summoned” (scroll down to hymn V). The second verse says:

Gladly would I leave behind me
All the idols I have known,
Since I bear inscribed the likeness
Of a more exalted One;
Worthy of unending worship,
Love, and reverence is he;
By his precious death were myriads
From the jaws of death set free.

That first line really stuck with me. What will we gladly leave behind us when we die and enter Heaven? There are the obvious things, like sin, death, and pain. I mention those in the last line here. But I was intrigued by the idea of exploring the things we love deeply here on earth but will still gladly leave behind for something even better.

The lyric seemed to suit the tune Ellesdie really nicely. (That tune is sometimes used with Henry Francis Lyte’s lyric “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.”) The exact origin of the tune is a little uncertain; it’s sometimes attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91). But it reached its modern form in the hymnal The Christian Lyre (Joshua Leavitt, 1831).