Kit Whitty

Your annual reminder that the author of the words to “Abide With Me” was a Protestant clergyman called Henry Lyte. Regarded as a cold rigid and prickly man, he showed absolutely no poetic talent - at all - until September 1847, when he was dying of tuberculosis and in great pain Then, suddenly he sat down and wrote these words, in one burst. He died seven weeks later ****** Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me. Come not in terrors, as the King of kings; But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings; Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea; Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me. I need Thy presence every passing hour; What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power? Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness. Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me