| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Psalms and Hymns for the Church (1883).
III. “Lo, signs in sun, and moon, and stars” | | By William Josiah Irons (1812–1883) |
| | | LO, signs in sun, and moon, and stars, | |
| And on the earth distress and fear, | |
| With sound of elemental wars, | |
| Telling “the Son of Man” is near. | |
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| Things quickly coming on the earth, | 5 |
| Find their dread augury in the sky; | |
| O children of the heavenly birth, | |
| “Look up, redemption draweth nigh.” | |
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| Behold the early fig-trees’ bloom, | |
| And verdure spangling all the land: | 10 |
| The future bursting from the womb, | |
| Saying, “the Kingdom is at hand.” | |
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| For when we see that rising day, | |
| No warning voices shall be stilled, | |
| Nor shall His Israel pass away, | 15 |
| “Until Christ’s words be all fulfilled.” | |
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| Then help us, Lord, to know Thy signs, | |
| Mark every line the evening bears, | |
| Ready to meet Thy bright designs, | |
| “Lest that Day take us unawares.” | 20 |
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| So, “Son of Man,” while tarrying here, | |
| Watch we the clouds with steadfast eyes, | |
| Until Thy glory shall appear, | |
| “The Sun of Righteousness arise.” | | | | |
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