ABIDE WITH ME

 

ABIDE WITH ME

“ABIDE WITH ME” is the title of a Christian hymn written by Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847). The word , abide, here means : to rest continuously, remain stable, stay permanently at a place or with a person’.  As  it is a hymn, it is addressed to God to stay with the poet throughout his life and death. In the second stanza, the poet says to God:

“Change and decay in all around I see;

O thou who changest not, abide with me.”  

 

It was a favourite hymn of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) and was also included in the military’s Republic Day’s  the Beating of the Retreat ceremonies.

 

                        The full hymn reads as follows:

 

ABIDE with me: fast falls the eventide;

The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,

Help the helpless, O abide with me.

 

Swift to its close ebbs out 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 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 my 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.

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

9^th August 2023