But I know that the day approaches when my chastening will begin.

You have been faithful and tender, but you will not always be,

And I think I had better leave you while your thoughts are kind of me.

“Oh, God! I could never bear it; it would madden my brain, I know;

So while you love me dearly, I think I had better go.

It is sweeter to feel my darling, to know as I fall asleep,

That some one will mourn and miss me, that some one is left to weep.

“That to die as I would in the future, to fall in the street some day,

Unknown, unwept and forgotten, when you have cast me away;

Perhaps the blood of the Savior can wash my garments clean;