The Soldiers’ Parting Hymn

From the Albuquerque Morning Journal, October 4, 1914.

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,
Keep safe my loved ones, be their strength and guide.
If never more my own dear land I see,
O thou who changest not, abide with me!

One life I have to give, it is my all—
And God be with me, if I live or fall!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
In stranger lands, O Lord, abide with me!

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day,
Dear hearts, forget me not when far away;
Upon the battlefield, upon the sea,
Whate’er my fate, O Lord, abide with me!

So breathed the sad strains of the parting hymn,
Farewells were said, and eyes with tears grew dim;
“Abide with me”—a prayer it seemed to be—
In Life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!