Poems (Curwen)/Abide with Me

by Annie Isabel Curwen

Abide with me.

Abide with me, for I am all alone,
The friends I love have left me one by one;
Youth with its golden hours for aye has flown,
And deep'ning shadows whisper, "Day is done!"
Cold mists are rising from the silent sea—
        Abide with me!

The night is coming on—the silent night,
From which my soul shrinks back in wild affright.
How shall I pass the hours till morning's light?
"Until the day break and the shadows flee "—
        Abide with me!

The silver cord is loos'ning day by day,
The tide is ebbing—oh, so fast!—away.
Stay with me till my barque has crossed the bay—
For these dim eyes can scarcely mark the way.
Until I reach the haven where I would be—
        Abide with me!