[Editor: This poem by Agnes Neale was published in Shadows and Sunbeams (1890).]
I Will Pray for Thee: A Song.
O I will pray for thee, love,
When the dawn is in the sky,
When the gloomy shadows of night-time
Away from the sunbeams fly;
When the morning star lies dying
In the light of the coming day,
Just ere the sun in his splendor
Has driven the darkness away,
I will pray for thee.
O I will pray for thee, love,
In the glow of the sunlit hours,
When the burning rays of the noontide
Are kissing the pale sweet flowers;
When the sun is high in the heavens.
And flames on his throne of light.
Ere yet the lengthening shadows
Shall speak of the coming night,
I will pray for thee.
O I will pray for thee, love,
At eve, when the dewdrops fall,
When the still grey shades of twilight
Creep over the mountains tall;
When the stars come out in the heavens,
And silently one by one
Take up their quiet vigil
In the track of the setting sun,
I will pray for thee.
O I will pray for thee, love,
In the solemn hours of the night
When the breathing silence around me
Proclaims God’s power and might;
Whenever my heart shall whisper
The name that it loves the best,
I will pray that God’s richest blessings
On thee, my love, may rest.
I will pray for thee.
Source:
Agnes Neale, Shadows and Sunbeams, Adelaide: Burden & Bonython, 1890, pages 95-96
Editor’s notes:
ere = before (from the Middle English “er”, itself from the Old English “aer”, meaning early or soon)
eve = evening
Old spelling in the original text:
thee (you)
[Editor: Changed “high in the heaven” to “high in the heavens” (in line with common usage and as used later in the same poem).]
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