The attempt to attain
The hope of eternal life!
I once had a happy home,
I once was a happy child,
Friends, kindred and home,
And never a word but
What was gentle and mild.
But they all have been taken away,
And still the God that we trust
Has left me alone—says I must learn
To say—to say and to know He is just!
Is sorrow my punishment here
For sin I have never done?
Must lonliness, sadness and pain
Be the burden I ever must bear
Since friends are all gone
And there's no one to know,
Nobody by me to care?
Should I now lead a life for self,
Since in this world I must live,
And then at the last,
When the "last" moment comes,
O Father! Would'st Thou forgive?
Show me the marvellous truth
That now is hidden from me,
Show me the light—a glimmer
Only, that I may "see,"
Give me some semblance, some promise,
Some hope for the future years,
Some little faint light, only
To pay for the bitter tears—
The bitter tears and the efforts.
Of long and weary years?
Living for years in a cold world,
Pitiless, censuring, without love.
Giving up all in hope to attain
A reward in the world Above.
Tired at last with the struggle
We lay our bodies down,
Knowing the soul shall live,
Sometime we shall wear the crown.
O Thou who the crown of thor,s
Did wear in that far-away land,
O Thou of the tender heart,
Thou only, canst understand.
Forget not Thy tired child.
Look into this erring heart!
Let Thine be the hand to guide
When with this world I part!
It is well worth the struggle to know
(Thou of all praise and reward the giver)
If only a moment the light shines at last.
In crossing o'er the dark river.
O hasten the moment I pray,
Take all earthly feelings away,
The hope of eternal life!
I once had a happy home,
I once was a happy child,
Friends, kindred and home,
And never a word but
What was gentle and mild.
But they all have been taken away,
And still the God that we trust
Has left me alone—says I must learn
To say—to say and to know He is just!
Is sorrow my punishment here
For sin I have never done?
Must lonliness, sadness and pain
Be the burden I ever must bear
Since friends are all gone
And there's no one to know,
Nobody by me to care?
Should I now lead a life for self,
Since in this world I must live,
And then at the last,
When the "last" moment comes,
O Father! Would'st Thou forgive?
Show me the marvellous truth
That now is hidden from me,
Show me the light—a glimmer
Only, that I may "see,"
Give me some semblance, some promise,
Some hope for the future years,
Some little faint light, only
To pay for the bitter tears—
The bitter tears and the efforts.
Of long and weary years?
Living for years in a cold world,
Pitiless, censuring, without love.
Giving up all in hope to attain
A reward in the world Above.
Tired at last with the struggle
We lay our bodies down,
Knowing the soul shall live,
Sometime we shall wear the crown.
O Thou who the crown of thor,s
Did wear in that far-away land,
O Thou of the tender heart,
Thou only, canst understand.
Forget not Thy tired child.
Look into this erring heart!
Let Thine be the hand to guide
When with this world I part!
It is well worth the struggle to know
(Thou of all praise and reward the giver)
If only a moment the light shines at last.
In crossing o'er the dark river.
O hasten the moment I pray,
Take all earthly feelings away,
23
