“ONLY REMEMBERED.”
This hymn, beginning originally with the lines,—
Up and away like the dew of the morning,
Soaring from earth to its home in the sun,
—has been repeatedly altered since it left Dr. Bonar's hands. Besides the change of metaphors, the first personal pronoun singular is changed to the plural. There was strength, and a natural vivacity in—
So let me steal away gently and lovingly,
Only remembered for what I have done.
As at present sung the first stanza reads—,
Fading away like the stars of the morning
Losing their light in the glorious sun,
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling
Only remembered for what we have done.
The idea voiced in the refrain is true and beautiful, and the very euphony of its words helps to enforce its meaning and make the song pleasant and suggestive for young and old. It has passed into popular quotation, and become almost a proverb.