ABIDE WITH ME

ABIDE WITH ME

‘Abide With Me’ is one of the most popular hymns which believers in the constant support of God recite in their places of worship or even in their homes when the day comes to an end and the night with all its gloom and horrors is about to set in and the much-needed balmy sleep seems to be dodging the eyes of many a human being.

            The complete text of the hymn which is copied below is both a praise and a prayer. 

Literally, a hymn has a handful of synonyms like psalm, anthem, carol, religious song, song of praise and spiritual chant.

            The title of the hymn is a part of its last line which runs as: In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

            Henry Francis Lyte who wrote this hymn was born at the village Ednam, in United Kingdom on 1^st June 1793.  He breathed his last at Nice in France on 20^th November 1847. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin.  He was a Scottish-born Anglican minister who wrote poetry and a number of hymns that have been included in a number of anthologies.

            It is worth mentioning here that ‘Abide With Me’ was one of the favourite hymns of Mahatma Gandhi. The word ‘abide’ in the context of this hymn means stay, dwell.

            “ABIDE with me: fast falls the eventide;

            The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs our life’s little day;

Earth’s joys  grow dim, its glories pass away,

Change and decay in all around I see;

O thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need thy presence every passing hour;

What but by thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?

Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?

             Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

           

              I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless:

              Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.

  Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?

   I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

    Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes:

    Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies:

    Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee:

     In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.”

23^rd January 2020.                                                            G. R. KANWAL