There was silence in the chamber,
Where the dying statesman lay,
And they knew, who watched beside him,
That his life fast ebbed away.
Loving hands could nothing further
Do, from pain to bring relief;
Sorrow-stricken, each one waited
The departure of his Chief.
Hush and listen! he is singing,
From his death-bed lying there,
As the evening shadows lengthen,
Sounds a chant upon the air;
Still the loved ones watch beside him,
Bound by never-ending ties,
While he sings in feeble accents
Now, almost in Paradise.
He had borne, in life’s great conflict,
Bravely forward, many a cross;
Duty-loving, ever-serving,
Counting all but right, as dross,
Stricken by the coward’s bullet,
Still of God, his song shall be.
And he chants with dying accents,
“Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
He had seen in many a battle
Daylight fade, and darkness drear
Fall upon his country’s soldiers;
His had been the part to cheer.
“Trust in God,” had been his watch-word
O’er life’s dark and stormy sea;
In his dying hour, he singeth
“Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
Firm in faith, and brave in duty,
Strong to meet his country’s needs;
Every trial brought new blessings,
Every blessing onward leads.
God will chasten whom he loveth;
Whom on earth more loved, than
he?
While he singeth, angels beckon
“Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
Fainter grow the faltering accents
Of the nation’s loved one there,
As he breathes his heart-felt utterance
Unto God, in praise and prayer.
He must leave his loved companion,
But in God her trust will be;
And the morning hours will bring him
“Nearer , My God, to Thee.”
Toils of life are almost over,
“Good-bye all. God’s will be done.”
God in Heaven, take thy servant,
Thou, his light, his star, his
sun.
Grant to all the sorrowing nation
That, like him its song shall
be,
In the joys of life, and sorrows,
“Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
Sept. 15th, 1901.
