University of Virginia Library

[Almighty Lord, if day by day]

Almighty Lord, if day by day,
From Thee I further move away,
O let me die to-night, I pray!
Yet no: this pray'r is idle breath.
I understand not life or death,
Nor how man's course continueth.

12

Swept in a wide and trackless curve,
Though seeming more and more to swerve,
An orbit still it must preserve.
I will not seek to live or die;
Do as thou wilt, I'll ask not why.
Keep hold of me—content am I.