Alone,--yet not alone: Lord, stand by me As once by lonely Paul in his distress. As blossoms to the sun I turn to Thee; Thy dove turns to her window, think no scorn; As one dove to an ark on shoreless sea, To Thee I turn mine eyes, my heart forlorn; Put forth Thy scarred right Hand, kind Lord, take hold Of me Thine all-forsaken dove who mourn: For Thou hast loved me since the days of old, And I love Thee Whom loving I will love Through life's short fever-fits of heat and cold; Thy Name will I extol and sing thereof, Will flee for refuge to Thy Blessèd Name. Lord, look upon me from thy bliss above: Look down on me, who shrink from all the shame And pangs and desolation of my death, Wrenched piecemeal or devoured or set on flame, While all the world around me holds its breath With eyes glued on me for a gazing-stock, Pitiless eyes, while no man pitieth. The floods are risen, I stagger in their shock, My heart reels and is faint, I fail, I faint: My God, set Thou me up upon the rock, Thou Who didst long ago Thyself acquaint With death, our death; Thou Who didst long ago Pour forth Thy soul for sinner and for saint. Bear me in mind, whom no one else will know; Thou Whom Thy friends forsook, take Thou my part, Of all forsaken in mine overthrow; Carry me in Thy bosom, in Thy heart, Carry me out of darkness into light, To-morrow make me see Thee as Thou art. Lover and friend Thou hidest from my sight:-- Alas, alas, mine earthly love, alas, For whom I thought to don the garments white And white wreath of a bride, this rugged pass Hath utterly divorced me from thy care; Yea, I am to thee as a shattered glass Worthless, with no more beauty lodging there, Abhorred, lest I involve thee in my doom: For sweet are sunshine and this upper air, And life and youth are sweet, and give us room For all most sweetest sweetnesses we taste: Dear, what hast thou in common with a tomb? I bow my head in silence, I make haste Alone, I make haste out into the dark, My life and youth and hope all run to waste. Is this my body cold and stiff and stark, Ashes made ashes, earth becoming earth, Is this a prize for man to make his mark?