| |
| ABIDE with me! fast falls the eventide, | |
| The darkness deepens: Lord, with me abide! | |
| When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, | |
| Help of the helpless, O, abide with me! | |
| |
| Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; | 5 |
| Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away; | |
| Change and decay in all around I see: | |
| O thou who changest not, abide with me! | |
| |
| Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word; | |
| But, as thou dwell’st with thy disciples, Lord, | 10 |
| Familiar, condescending, patient, free, | |
| Come, not to sojourn, but abide with me! | |
| |
| Come not in terrors, as the King of kings; | |
| But kind and good, with healing in thy wings; | |
| Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea; | 15 |
| Come, Friend of sinners, and thus ’bide with me! | |
| |
| Thou on my head in early youth didst smile; | |
| And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile, | |
| Thou hast not left me, oft as I left thee; | |
| On to the close, O Lord, abide with me! | 20 |
| |
| I need thy presence every passing hour: | |
| What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power? | |
| Who like thyself my guide and stay can be? | |
| Through cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me! | |
| |
| I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; | 25 |
| Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness: | |
| Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory? | |
| I triumph still if thou abide with me. | |
| |
| Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes, | |
| Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies. | 30 |
| Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee: | |
| In life and death, O Lord, abide with me! | |
| |
