C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Evening Hymn
By John Keble (17921866)
S
It is not night if thou be near;
Oh, may no earth-born cloud arise
To hide thee from thy servant’s eyes.
My weary eyelids gently steep,
Be my last thought, how sweet to rest
Forever on my Savior’s breast.
For without thee I cannot live;
Abide with me when night is nigh,
For without thee I dare not die.
Have spurned to-day the voice divine,
Now, Lord, the gracious work begin:
Let him no more lie down in sin.
With blessings from thy boundless store;
Be every mourner’s sleep to-night
Like infant’s slumbers, pure and light.
Ere through the world our way we take,
Till in the ocean of thy love
We lose ourselves in heaven above.