Father, guide me! Day declines,
Hollow winds are in the pines;
Darkly waves each giant bough
O’er the sky’s last crimson glow;
Hushed is now the convent’s bell,
Which erewhile with breezy swell
From the purple mountains bore
Greetings to the sunset-shore.
Now the sailor’s vesper-hymn
Dies away.
Father, in the forest dim,

Be my Stay!

In the low and shivering thrill
Of the leaves that late hung still;
In the dull and muffled tone
Of the sea-wave’s distant moan;
In the deep tints of the sky,
There are signs of tempest nigh.
Ominous, with sullen sound,
Falls the closing dusk around.
Father, through the storm and shade
O’er the wild,
Oh, be Thou the lone one’s Aid, —
Save Thy child!

Many a swift and sounding plume
Homewards, through the boding gloom.
O’er my way hath flitted fast
Since the farewell sunbeam passed
From the chestnut’s ruddy bark,
And the pools, now lone and dark,
Where the wakening night-winds sigh
Through the long reeds mournfully.
Homeward, homeward, all things haste.
God of might,
Shield the homeless midst the waste, —
Be his Light!

In his distant cradle-nest,
Now my babe is laid to rest;
Beautiful his slumber seems
With a glow of heavenly dreams.
Beautiful, o’er that bright sleep,
Hang soft eyes of fondness deep,
Where his mother bends to pray
For the loved and far-away.
Father, guard that household bower,
Hear that prayer!
Back, through Thine all-guiding power,
Lead me there!

Darker, wilder grows the night:
Not a star sends quivering light
Through the massy arch of shade
By the stern old forest made.
Thou to whose unslumbering eyes
All my pathway open lies.
By Thy Son, who knew distress
In the lonely wilderness.
Where no roof to that blest head
Shelter gave,
Father, through the time of dread,
Save, oh, save!

-MRS. HEMANS.