Ascension Day

See the Conqueror mounts in triumph, see the King in royal state,

Riding on the clouds His chariot,
 to His heavenly Palace-gate;
Hark, the quires of angel voices
 joyful Halleluias! sing,

And the portals high are lifted, to receive their heavenly King.

Who is this that comes in glory,
 with the trump of jubilee?

Lord of battles, God of armies,
 He has gain'd the victory;
He Who on the cross did suffer,
 He Who from the grave arose,

He has vanquish'd sin and Satan, He by death has spoil'd His foes.

While He rais'd His hands in blessing, 
He was parted from His friends;

While their eager eyes behold Him,
 He upon the clouds ascends;

He Who walk'd with God and pleas'd Him,
 preaching truth and doom to come,

He, our Enoch, is translated to His everlasting home.

Now our heavenly Aaron enters with His blood within the veil;

Joshua now is come to Canaan,
 and the kings before Him quail;

Now He plants the tribes of Israel
 in their promis'd resting-place;

Now our Great Elijah offers
 double portion of His grace.

Thou hast raised our human nature on the clouds to God's right hand,
There we sit in heavenly places,
 there with Thee in glory stand;
Jesus reigns, ador'd by angels;
 Man with God is on the Throne;

Mighty Lord, in Thine Ascension,
 we by faith behold our own.

Holy Ghost, Illuminator, shed Thy beams upon our eyes,
Help us to look up with Stephen, and to see beyond the skies,
Where the Son of Man in glory standing is at God's right hand,
Beckoning-on His Martyr army, succouring His faithful band.

See Him Who is gone before us, heavenly mansions to prepare,
See Him Who is ever pleading for us with prevailing prayer;
See Him Who with sound of trumpet and with His angelic train
Summoning the World to Judgment, on the clouds will come again.

Raise us up from earth to heaven; give us wings of faith and love,
Gales of holy aspirations wafting us to realms above;
That with hearts and minds uplifted we with Christ our Lord may dwell,
Where He sits enthron'd in glory in His heavenly Citadel;

So at last, when He appeareth, we from out our graves may spring,
With our youth renew'd like eagles, flocking round our heavenly King,
Caught up on the clouds of heaven, and may meet Him in the air,
Rise to realms where He is reigning, and may reign for ever there.

Glory be to God the Father, Glory be to God the Son,
Dying, ris'n, ascending for us, Who the heavenly realm has won;
Glory to the Holy Spirit; to One God in Persons Three
Glory both in earth and heaven, glory, endless glory, be!

—Christopher Wordsworth (from The Holy Year, 1865)

Possible tunes:
"Hymn to Joy," Ludwig van Beethoven
"Austrian Hymn," Franz Joseph Haydn

Christopher Wordsworth can be a weird interpreter of Scripture sometimes (as when he interprets Isaiah 40 to mean that the leveling of mountains and filling of valleys is fulfilled in railroad building), but I enjoy the rich metaphors, allusions, and typology he brings to some subjects. This hymn majestically captures the significance of Christ's ascension in relation to the whole rest of Scripture.