Saturday Poetry Corner: Abide In Me, O Lord

 

 

"I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and has given Himself up for me."
(Galatians 2:20) 

 

 

"Young Woman Praying In Church"
(1854)
Jules Breton
(1827-1906)
French naturalist painter
Image courtesy/Wikimedia Commons

 Abide in me,

O Lord, and I in Thee,

From this good hour, oh,

Leave me nevermore;

Then shall the discord cease,

The wound be healed,

The lifelong bleeding

Of the soul be o'er. 

Abide in me;

O'ershadow by Thy love

Each half formed purpose

And dark thought of in;

Quench ere it rise

Each selfish, low desire,

And keep my soul as

Thine, calm and divine. 

As some rare perfume

In a vase of clay,

Pervades it with

A fragrance not its own,

So, when Thou dwellest

In a mortal soul,

All Heav'n's own sweetness

Seems around it thrown. 

Abide in me;

There have been moments blest

When I have heard Thy voice

And felt Thy power;

Then evil lost its grasp;

And passion, hushed,

Owned the divine

Enchantment of the hour. 

These were but seasons 

Beautiful and rare;

Abide in me,

And they shall ever be;

Fulfill at once

Thy precept and my prayer,

Come, and abide

In me and I in Thee. 

 
 

"Abide In Me, O Lord" 
(1885)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1811-1896)
 Prolific American writer 
Author of the novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin".