Psalm 139 is serious, deep and grave in tone, as befits a plea to God. When King David wrote it, around 970 BC/BCE, he expressed ideas which reflected the times, but amongst those words of anger, bitterness, humility and fear are also words of wonder, hope and solace. When I wrote the English lyrics for On Perfect Wings, the companion song to Invenies Me Mane Caeloon my album Divan, I was thinking of how it would sound if it were sung in a church. I wanted to write something that would make people want to sing along, something with a melody that was easy to follow and that would give you a good feeling, a tune that would bring out the positive feelings in the words. Otherwise, who would want to sing it? And what’s the point of a hymn that can’t be sung? So, I took the Latin prose that I had translated into English lyrics, and paired it with a composition that is upbeat, melodic and filled with three-part harmonies.
Ben Botfield, performing as Ben Alexander, lends his superb, soaring voice to the recording.
Syntax and semantics
The main differences between the lyrics and the original prose of Psalm 139, are the word meanings, the word order and the rhyme scheme, in other words, the syntax and semantics. One semantic issue was critical: the core metaphor and its meaning.
The name of the song comes from Psalm 139, verses 9 and 10, in the King James Bible, which I chose as the core metaphor: I thought those words were quite poetic and the most expressive in the psalm as a whole: “9 If I take the wings of morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”
However, what exactly the writer meant with “wings of morning” is debatable. In the early Latin version, the words are: “8 Si ascendero in caelum tu illic es si descendero ad infernum ades; 9 Si sumpsero pinnas meas diluculo et habitavero in extremis maris”. This translates as: “8 If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present; 9 If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea”. So, these two concepts, “ascending to heaven”, and “wings of morning”, have become conflated in the subsequent English versions of the psalm.
Dr. Domingo Avilés, when checking my Latin lyrics, said that “…‘invenies me mane caelum’ is supposed to mean, literally, ‘you shall find me in the sky in the morning’ .” However, then the word “caelum” is not grammatically correct for the English meaning, and should be “caelo”. I guessed, from all this, that the image is that of a winged creature – perhaps a bird or angel – flying in the sky at sunrise, with the usual associations with beauty, hope and transcendence. That’s why the image on the song cover is a butterfly with gorgeous sky-blue wings.
Certain words needed revision
Other semantic issues relates to the vocabulary (lexis): The first line of Psalm 139 in the original Latin, and the full name of the psalm, is: “Domine probasti me et cognovisti me”, meaning “Lord, you have tried and known me.” “Tried” is one of the many words in the original of which the meaning has changed over the centuries. “Tried” no longer primarily means to “put to the test” or “to put to a trial” or “to test through suffering”. I had to find a compatible, current word, and used “search”, in the sense of study closely or focus on.
Also, in older versions of the psalm, the word “perfect” is used, which comes from the Latin “perficere” which means “complete”, “flawless” and “lacking in no detail”. So I added that word into the title of the song.
On Perfect Wings lyrics
O Lord, thou hast searched and known me.
Thou knowest all that I say,
thou knowest my thoughts from far off
Knows my every way.
Knows my every way –
There is not a word in my tongue,
that thou does not comprehend
Thus thou safeguards me for ever
From birth to the end
From birth to the end –
Shall I go forth from thy spirit?
O Lord, canst thou tell me where?
From the darkness, light arises:
Thou art surely there
Thou art surely there –
Marvelous are thy works;
that my soul knows right well.
Thou sees all that exists
In both heaven and hell.
Thine eyes did see my soul,
imperfect though it be;
and in thy book was writ’,
every aspect of me.
Precious are all thy thoughts
unto me, O my Lord!
They are more than the grains
of the sand where I walk.
Search me, Lord – I am weak:
On my sins, rest thy gaze.
And then I shall walk in
the everlasting way.
On the perfect wings of morning,
and below the deepest sea;
Thy right hand shall surely lead, and
Hold and comfort me.
Hold and comfort me –
On the perfect wings of morning,
and below the wondrous sea;
Thy right hand shall surely lead, and
Hold and comfort me.
Hold and comfort me –
SEVEN CIRCUMSTANCES 
Psalm 139 is serious, deep and grave in tone, as befits a plea to God. When King David wrote it, around 970 BC/BCE, he expressed ideas which reflected the times, but amongst those words of anger, bitterness, humility and fear are also words of wonder, hope and solace. When I wrote the English lyrics for On Perfect Wings, the companion song to Invenies Me Mane Caelo on my album Divan, I was thinking of how it would sound if it were sung in a church. I wanted to write something that would make people want to sing along, something with a melody that was easy to follow and that would give you a good feeling, a tune that would bring out the positive feelings in the words. Otherwise, who would want to sing it? And what’s the point of a hymn that can’t be sung? So, I took the Latin prose that I had translated into English lyrics, and paired it with a composition that is upbeat, melodic and filled with three-part harmonies.
Ben Botfield, performing as Ben Alexander, lends his superb, soaring voice to the recording.
Syntax and semantics
The main differences between the lyrics and the original prose of Psalm 139, are the word meanings, the word order and the rhyme scheme, in other words, the syntax and semantics. One semantic issue was critical: the core metaphor and its meaning.
The name of the song comes from Psalm 139, verses 9 and 10, in the King James Bible, which I chose as the core metaphor: I thought those words were quite poetic and the most expressive in the psalm as a whole:
“9 If I take the wings of morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”
However, what exactly the writer meant with “wings of morning” is debatable. In the early Latin version, the words are:
“8 Si ascendero in caelum tu illic es si descendero ad infernum ades;
9 Si sumpsero pinnas meas diluculo et habitavero in extremis maris”.
This translates as:
“8 If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present;
9 If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea”.
So, these two concepts, “ascending to heaven”, and “wings of morning”, have become conflated in the subsequent English versions of the psalm.
Dr. Domingo Avilés, when checking my Latin lyrics, said that “…‘invenies me mane caelum’ is supposed to mean, literally, ‘you shall find me in the sky in the morning’ .” However, then the word “caelum” is not grammatically correct for the English meaning, and should be “caelo”. I guessed, from all this, that the image is that of a winged creature – perhaps a bird or angel – flying in the sky at sunrise, with the usual associations with beauty, hope and transcendence. That’s why the image on the song cover is a butterfly with gorgeous sky-blue wings.
Certain words needed revision
Other semantic issues relates to the vocabulary (lexis): The first line of Psalm 139 in the original Latin, and the full name of the psalm, is: “Domine probasti me et cognovisti me”, meaning “Lord, you have tried and known me.” “Tried” is one of the many words in the original of which the meaning has changed over the centuries. “Tried” no longer primarily means to “put to the test” or “to put to a trial” or “to test through suffering”. I had to find a compatible, current word, and used “search”, in the sense of study closely or focus on.
Also, in older versions of the psalm, the word “perfect” is used, which comes from the Latin “perficere” which means “complete”, “flawless” and “lacking in no detail”. So I added that word into the title of the song.
On Perfect Wings lyrics
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