Abide With Me

( Originally Published 1868 )

REV. HENRY FRANCIS LYTE

ABIDE with me ! Fast falls the eventide,
The darkness thickens ; Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh abide with me.

Swift to its cose ebbs out life's little day ;
Earth's joys grow dim, its gories pass away:
Change and decay in all around I see;
0 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 Familiar, condescending, patient, free;
Come, not to sojourn, but abide, with me.

Thou on my head in early youth did'st smile.
And though rebellious and perverse meanwhile
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left thee ;
On to the close, 0 Lord; abide with me.

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 coud and sunshine, oh abide with me.