Scripture Verse

He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

Introduction

Words: Hel­en H. Mill­er, 1920. Mill­er and Sall­ie Doug­las met at a YWCA con­fer­ence at the Sil­ver Bay As­so­cia­tion at Lake George in New York’s Ad­ir­on­dacks. This song, in­spired by Al­fred Ten­ny­son’s po­em Mer­lin and the Gleam, about the quest for the Ho­ly Grail, came out of their meet­ing. It won the 1920 Sil­ver Bay Prize at Bryn Mawr Col­lege, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Music: Sal­lie H. Doug­las, 1915 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Mill­er or Doug­las (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

To the knights in the days of old,
Keeping watch on the mount­ain height,
Came a vi­sion of Ho­ly Grail
And a voice through the wait­ing night:
Follow, fol­low, fol­low the gleam;
Banners un­furled o’er all the world;
Follow, fol­low, fol­low the gleam
Of the cha­lice that is the Grail.

And we who would serve the King,
And loy­al­ly Him obey,
In the con­se­crate si­lence know
That the chal­lenge still holds to­day,
Follow, fol­low, fol­low the gleam
Standards of worth o’er all the earth;
Follow, fol­low, fol­low the gleam
Of the Light that shall bring the dawn.

illustration
The Holy Grail
Dante Rossetti (1828–1882)