Where shall I lay my weary head?

Verse 1
Where shall I lay my weary head?
Where shall I hide me from my shame?
From all I feel, and all I dread,
And all I have, and all I am!
Swift to outstrip the stormy wind,
And leave this cursed self behind!

Verse 2
O the intolerable load
Of nature waken’d to pursue,
The footsteps of a distant God,
Till faith hath form’d the soul anew!
’Tis death, ’tis more than death to bear—
I cannot live, till God is here.

Verse 3
Give me thy wings, celestial Dove,
And help me from myself to fly;
Then shall my soul far off remove,
The tempest’s idle rage defy,
From sin, from sorrow, and from strife
Escap’d, and hid in Christ, my life.

Verse 4
Stranger on earth, I sojourn here:
Yet, O on earth I cannot rest,
Till thou my hidden life appear,
And sweetly take me to thy breast:
To thee my wishes all aspire,
And sighs for thee my whole desire.

Verse 5
Search, and try out my panting heart:
Surely, my Lord, it pants for thee,
Jealous lest earth should claim a part:
Thine wholly thine I gasp to be.
Thou know’st ’tis all I live to prove;
Thou know’st, I only want thy love.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "Desiring Christ." Introduced in a hymnal jointly credited to John and Charles Wesley; it is more likely than not that Charles wrote it but not certain. Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1740). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 1 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868), page 261.
Publishing: Public Domain