Lyrics for Until the Day Dawns

LIVING IN HIS LOVE
Based on Song of Songs 1:4, 2:14; 4:8; 5:2; Rom 8:37, and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Draw me and we will run after thee
Bring me, my king, to your chambers
We will be glad and rejoice in you
We will extol your love

Sweetly infused I’m glowing with you
Lingering here till we shine
Love I profess rests on your loveliness
Not any love of mine

We overcome
Through Him who has loved us
All that subdued us we now rise above
Living in His love

Free from self vain, in clefts I’d remain
Hearken to hear my sweet voice
Seek as I ought til I find whom I’ve sought
Love of my soul, rejoice!

Love was inlaid midst your palanquin made
Of purple, silver, and gold
Old things aside, come with you as your bride
Mountaintop’s views we behold

We overcome
Through Him who has loved us
All that subdued us we now rise above
Living in His love

Here where you rest I’ll love you the best
Tirzah, your love and delight
Clear as the sun, now with you I am one
Gaze upon your Shulammite

We overcome
Through Him who has loved us
All that subdued us we now rise above
Living in His love

OVERWHELMED BY LOVE
Based on Song of Songs 6:4, 5, 9 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

You are as beautiful, O my love
As Tirzah’s sanctuary above
Jerusalem, my dwelling place
Heavenly in nature, full of grace

Turn your eyes away from me
Your gaze is overwhelming me
Turn my perfect one, my dove
I’m so weak before your love

A banner now has been unfurled
So terrifying to the world
You leave your enemies all dismayed
Conquering by your fierce array

Turn your eyes away from me
Your gaze is overwhelming me
Turn my perfect one, my dove
I’m so weak before your love
I am so weak before your love

Within the veil your beauty lies
Laced with affection from your eyes
With all the love you emanate
How my heart you captivate

Turn your eyes away from me
Your gaze is overwhelming me
Turn my perfect one, my dove
I’m so weak before your love
I am so weak before your love

OUR WALL
Based on Song of Songs 2:8-13 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Hills of quills and mountains high and rocky clefts that fringe the sky
The leaping hart can almost fly, it so bewilders me
But mountains feel so far away, so in my fortress here I’ll stay
And from the hart my eyes will stray, lest looking set me free

And from afar I hear him say rise up my love and come away
To introspection’s sway I fall, and trap myself inside our wall

Hues of blues and yellow light, the warming ray that breaks the night
A portal to a world so bright, my soul delights to see
But rays expose where they have shined, pervading spaces I’ve confined
So when he glanced through, I declined to open thoroughly

And from afar I hear him say rise up my love and come away
My listless heart should heed his call to come out from within our wall

Shoots of fruits on vines so vast, the bane of winter’s rain is past
The time of singing—come at last—I’ve yearned so eagerly
But blossoms fall from whence they’ve sprung, and drops of rain still quench my tongue
The sweetest song I left unsung so tearless I could be

And from afar I hear him say rise up my love and come away
His love my tender heart enthralls, I’d seek for him outside our wall

And from afar I hear him say rise up my love and come away
His word had saved me after all, I’m seeking him outside our wall

THERE I’LL GIVE YOU MY LOVE
Based on Song of Songs 7:10-13 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

O I am my beloved’s and his desire’s for me
Come my beloved, let’s go into the fields
Lodging in the villages, gazing let us see
Vineyards where abundant fruit does yield

There I’ll give you my love, for the vineyards, early rise up
Let us see if the vine has budded, if the blossom is open,
If the pomegranates are in bloom, I’ll give you my love

Mandrakes give their fragrance forth, and over all our doors
Are all the choice fruits, new as well as old
These my beloved, I have stored up, on you to outpour
Fragrant as the love that we behold

There I’ll give you my love, for the vineyards, early rise up
Let us see if the vine has budded, if the blossom is open,
If the pomegranates are in bloom, I’ll give you my love

Yesterday’s labor was lost at your feet
Now in love’s union our field is the world and our labor exudes a fragrance sweet

Fledgling eyes could only see how he belonged to me
Over keeping my own vineyard I obsessed
Selfish grasping passed away, now my heart is free
O I am his, and in our work we rest

There I’ll give you my love, for the vineyards, early rise up
Let us see if the vine has budded, if the blossom is open,
If the pomegranates are in bloom, I’ll give you my love

There I’ll give you my love, in the early morning rise up
Let us see if the vine has budded, if the blossom is open,
If the pomegranates are in bloom, I’ll give you my love

THE MOUNTAIN OF MYRRH
Based on Song of Songs 4:6; 1:9; 2:2; 3:6 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

I passed through the wilderness weary
Showered with praise I can’t claim
With utter compliance
My utterance–silence
Though humbled, my shadows remain

A chariot’s mare came forth seeking
A king with a transforming balm
His myrrh was applied
Pharaoh’s mare life had died
Now a lily emerged in its calm

Although in our love there’s no barrier between
Within I’m still waiting for morning

Shadows haven’t withdrawn
As long as they won’t flee away
Then I for my part until the day dawns
To the mountain of myrrh will I go
Where for you I’ll wait
For you there I’ll wait

If lilies through winter’s enduring
Bear fuller, bright blooms in the spring
Then dying, we live
That the new life He’d give
Be the richest myrrh’s mountain can bring

Although in our love there’s no barrier between
Within I’m still waiting for morning

Shadows haven’t withdrawn
As long as they won’t flee away
Then I for my part until the day dawns
To the mountain of myrrh will I go
Where for you I’ll wait
For you there I’ll wait

BLACK BUT LOVELY
Based on Song of Songs 1:5-6 and the writings of Watchman Nee and WItness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Anger as a root of bitterness heard in the voices of my mother’s sons
Locked me in a chamber of darkness full of reviling by the ones
Who’s vineyards now I keep, and who derided me while I wept
Keeper of the vineyards they have made me, but my own I have not kept

I’ve been scorched by the sun, so don’t look at me
But I’m beautiful to One, I am black but lovely

Had I only seen what now I can through the enlightening of the sun
Then I would’ve known just who I am, not what I thought that I have become
How vain it was to hide, how needlessly I repressed
Feelings of the shame that lingered inside, but now I just confess

I’ve been scorched by the sun, so don’t look at me
But I’m beautiful to One, I am black but lovely

Born in sin and in the sight thereof
I am utterly despised
Dwelling in the kingdom of your love
I am beautiful in your eyes

Burdened with a load too hard to bear, with no reason there to remain
Tethered with what they entrust to my care but not what God ordained
Since I found the peace I had sought, and the rest that I had dreamt of
Now to my own vineyard I have been brought, and it’s all because of love

I’ve been scorched by the sun, so don’t look at me
But I’m beautiful to One, I am black but lovely

TURN
Based on Song of Songs 2:16-3:2 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Turning back, reviewing past experience I’ve had
He is mine and I am His, the glimpse of moments glad
Feelings satisfied my heart, and that was plainly clear
But my feelings left me searching for his presence
In the vacant walls once lined with love sincere

Will you wait until the day dawns upon us
And shadows flee away, on the mountains
Of Bether, for me yearn, O my beloved, turn
O my beloved, turn
O my beloved, turn

Shadows lengthen o’er my path, the sun begins to fade
Pleasures from love’s youthful bliss–the wall that I have made
Clearly insufficient I can see the tall demand
And the calling was surmounting, it was more than I could stand
So reluctance came and paralyzed my heart to take his hand

Will you wait until the day dawns upon us
And shadows flee away, on the mountains
Of Bether, for me yearn, O my beloved, turn
O my beloved, turn
O my beloved, turn

Rising to forsake my treasured feelings–now my test
Tenderly he called me from the bed in which I rest
Night by night I sought him from my cavernous domain
But the echoes of the night had me surrounded
So it seems that all my seeking was in vain, now I’m pleading

Will you wait until the day dawns upon us
And shadows flee away, on the mountains
Of Bether, for me yearn, O my beloved, turn
O my beloved, turn
O my beloved, turn

CLEFTS OF THE ROCK
Based on Song of Songs 2:14 and the writings of Watchman Nee and WItness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Let me hear your voice o my love
For your voice is tender and sweet
In the clefts of rocks o my dove
There your lovely countenance meet

Ooh, will you stay here even when your sky turns gray?
Ooh, in this place I long to see your face
In the clefts of the rock, ooh, in the clefts of the rock
Rock, ooh, in the clefts of the rock

When the clefts seem dreadfully high
And the way too rugged and steep
If my power there you apply
Like a hart o’er rocks you will leap

Ooh, will you take the narrow path, despising shame?
Ooh, day by day renewing there you’ll gain
In the clefts of the rock, ooh, in the clefts of the rock
Rock, ooh, in the clefts of the rock

Can you hear me call from your house of wine
In the precipice there you will see that you are mine

In the covert to remain
Never from the precipice leave
There my love in you will constrain
There my strengthening receive

Ooh, will you stray from dwelling in the secret place?
Ooh, when things dismay my victory you’ll display
In the clefts of the rock, ooh, in the clefts of the rock
Rock, ooh, in the clefts of the rock

SICK WITH LOVE
Based on Song of Songs 5:2-8 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

I saw your hand in the door
Open to me, my love, my sister, my dove
My soul failed, but I won’t lose you anymore
I’m seeking you ’cause I’m sick with love

I sleep but my heart is awake
Your gentle love I never meant to forsake
A sound! Your enchanting knock
Drops of night drip from your dew drenched locks

I saw your hand in the door
Open to me, my love, my sister, my dove
My soul failed, but I won’t lose you anymore
I’m seeking you ’cause I’m sick with love

I yearned for you in my inner parts
Your calling hand embraced my heart of hearts
When I arose you were gone
My fingers dripped with myrrh but you had withdrawn

I saw your hand in the door (I called to you, open to me)
Open to me, my love, my sister, my dove (open my dove)
My soul failed, but I won’t lose you anymore
I’m seeking you ’cause I’m sick with love

Watchmen search only to assail
They wounded me and stripped away my veil
O daughters help me in my deep distress
I’ve lost my love in all my helplessness

I saw your hand in the door (I called to you, open to me)
Open to me, my love, my sister, my dove (open my dove)
My soul failed, but I won’t lose you anymore
I’m seeking you ’cause I’m sick with love

I saw your hand in the door (I called to you, open to me)
My sister, love, my perfect one, my dove (open my dove)
My soul failed, but I won’t lose you anymore
I’m seeking you ’cause I’m sick with love

I’m seeking you ’cause I’m sick with love

BEAUTIFUL AS THE MOON
Based on Song of Songs 6:10 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Morning looks toward the day
Not one barrier remains
All your shadows will now flee away
Where your light sustains

Hope as bright, as the morning light

Who is this woman who shines like the dawn
Clear as the sun shines at noon
A heavenly body she now has become
Beautiful as the moon

Those in darkness concealed
Break from bonds that once sealed
Testimony of light you reveal
Heavenly rays that can heal

Fulgent glow upon souls below

Who is this woman who shines like the dawn
Clear as the sun shines at noon
A heavenly body she now has become
Beautiful as the moon

Not one cloud can erase
All the light one can trace
darkness reels from the sphere you embrace
With the glow of your face

Lustrous one, radiant as the sun

Who is this woman who shines like the dawn
Clear as the sun shines at noon
A heavenly body she now has become
Beautiful as the moon

LET HIM KISS ME
Based on Song of Songs 1:2 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Perhaps in the end, with love’s stages complete
Our Trials transcended, will love still be sweet
Could I by your grace and the fullness thereof
So longingly trace how your banner over me was just love?

Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth
For Your love, sweet love of mine, is better than wine
For your love (oh your love)
Sweet love of mine (sweet love of mine)
Your love is better than wine

Affection so personal I’m seeking from you
Your intimate kisses be all I pursue
No treasure above all my thirsting heart longs
Can rival our love of all loves in this sweet song of songs

Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth
For Your love, sweet love of mine, is better than wine
For your love (oh your love)
Sweet love of mine (sweet love of mine)
Your love is better than wine

Let him kiss me (your love)
Let him kiss me (sweet love)
With the kisses of his mouth (better than wine)

SET ME AS A SEAL
Based on Song of Songs 8:6-7 and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz

Set me as a seal on your heart
Set me as a seal on your arm
For your love is strong as death
Jealousy as cruel as Sheol
Set me as a seal

Your love can’t be quenched when it’s tried
No floods can it drown in their tide
If for love one’s wealth was spent
It’d be utterly contemned
Your love will not be quenched

For your love’s a most vehement flame, like flashes of fire
How​ ​I​ ​long​ ​to​ ​be​ ​raptured​ ​to​ ​you,​ ​you’re​ ​my​ ​one​ ​desire

For my strongest grip is weak
Of my grasp I dare not speak
Your love is all I seek

For your love’s a most vehement flame, like flashes of fire
How​ ​I​ ​long​ ​to​ ​be​ ​raptured​ ​to​ ​you,​ ​you’re​ ​my​ ​one​ ​desire