O Were I Like a Feathered Dove

DESCRIPTION: "O were I like a feather'd dove! If innocence had wings, I'd flay and make a long remove From all these restless things. Let me to some wild desert go And find a poweful home, Where storms of malice never blow, And sorrow never come"
AUTHOR: Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) (source: hymnary.org)
EARLIEST DATE: 1795 (Sacred Poetry)
KEYWORDS: religious bird | dove
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MidwestFolklore, Mary O. Eddy, "Twenty Folk Hymns," Volume 3, Number 1 (Spring 1953), p. 38, "Solitude in the Grove" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
NOTES [77 words]: For more on Isaac Watts, see the notes to "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." Based on the record at hymnary.org, this is one of his least successful psalm paraphrases. It is based on Psalm 55, but not the beginning; rather, it alludes to 55:6 and following, which in the King James Version read "And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. (7) Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah." - RBW

Last updated in version 6.8
File: MWF3039B

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