To-night me compass grief and fears,
To-night while drip heart-broken tears;
There seems to be no one to save
My weeping soul from chilly grave.
To-night as I, Thy servant, pray
To Thee, to turn my darkness day,
And change my many blinding fears
To brighter hope for future years.
O restless soul, thou canst not sleep,
For, ship-like, thou art tossed the deep;
Aye, tossed by surge of mighty wave,
With none to share and none to save.
O God, in Thee I now believe,
Since life in Thee I do receive;
I pray Thee now with trembling fear
To my sad soul draw near, draw near.
O God, Thou knowest this night I dread,
As 'twere to number me with the dead—
I plead to Thee as by a rule,
O God, wilt Thou help me in school?
To-night, O God, the darkest gloom
Hangs o'er me like a cloud to doom;
I cry while sitting on this stool—
O God, wilt Thou help me in school?
This wide world o'er my mind doth roam,
So many miles away from home,
With thoughts thread-like wound in a spool—
O God, wilt Thou help me in school?
Dear Lord, I ask of Thee one boon,
Pure as the light of "harvest moon";
And cry as when bathed in a pool—
O God, wilt Thou help me in school?
While time and tide flow o'er my mind,
For wisdom, Lord, I ever pine;
But not in folly of a fool—
O God, wilt Thou help me in school?
Oh, may I now look up and smile,
As children, mirthful all the while,
When playing in the shade so cool—
O God, wilt Thou help me in school?