O Father, by whose sovereign sway

O Father, by whose sovereign sway. Cyril Argentine Alington* (1872-1955). First published in Alington’s poetry collection In Shabby Streets (Eton, 1942), and subsequently included in BBCHB, A&MR, CH3 and other books. The author’s suggested tune was MARYTON, by H. Percy Smith* (1825-1898), though it is set in A&MR to WAREHAM, by William Knapp*. Although intended as a wedding hymn, little direct reference is made to marriage. The hymn describes how each of the three persons of the Trinity brings love into human life and invokes a blessing on ‘these thy children’, to indicate that the reference is not to humankind in general. The second stanza refers to Christ’s first miracle at the...