{
 "id": "john-newton/return-o-lord-how-long",
 "title": "Return, O Lord, How Long?",
 "ordinal": "31",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 272,
 "container": "III Conflict",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1779,
  "venue": "Olney Hymns (1779)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_olney-hymns-in-three-bo_newton-john_1779",
   "https://cowperandnewtonmuseum.org.uk/bulletin/computerised-index-to-the-olney-hymns/",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns",
  "file": "book-3.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Olney_Hymns_%281840%29",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-15"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 6,
  "longest_line_chars": 41,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    0,
    1
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    1,
    2
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    2,
    3
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IV",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    3,
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   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    4,
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   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VI",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    5,
    6
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Return to bless my waiting eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cheer my mourning heart, Lord!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without thee all beneath the skies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No real pleasure can afford.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When thy loved presence meets my sight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It softens care and sweetens toil,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sun shines forth with double light,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The whole creation wears a smile.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Upon thine arm of love I rest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy gracious voice forbids my fear;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No storms disturb my peaceful breast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No foes assault when thou art near.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But, ah! since thou hast been away,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nothing but trouble have I known;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Satan marks me for his prey,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Because he sees me left alone.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My sun is hid, my comforts lost,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My graces droop, my sins revive;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Distress’d, dismay’d, and tempest-toss’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My soul is only just alive!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Lord, hear my cry, and come again!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Put all mine enemies to shame;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And let them see ’tis not in vain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That I have trusted in thy name.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}