Go and dig my grave to­day!
Weary of my wan­der­ings all,
Now from earth I pass away,
For the hea­ven­ly peace doth call;
Angel voic­es from above
Call me to their rest and love.

Go and dig my grave to­day!
Homeward doth my jour­ney tend,
And I lay my staff away
Here where all things earth­ly end,
And I lay my wea­ry head
In the on­ly pain­less bed.

What is there I yet should do,
Lingering in this dark­some vale?
Proud and migh­ty, fair to view,
Are our schemes, and yet they fail,
Like the sand be­fore the wind,
That no pow­er of man can bind.

Farewell, earth, then; I am glad
That in peace I now de­part,
For thy ve­ry joys are sad,
And thy hopes de­ceive the heart;
Fleeting is thy beau­ty’s gleam,
False and chang­ing as a dream.

And to you a last good night,
Sun and moon, and stars so dear;
Farewell all your gold­en light;
I am tra­vel­ing far from here,
To the splen­dors of that day
Where ye all must fade away.

Farewell, O ye much-loved friends!
Grief hath smote you as a sword,
But the Com­fort­er des­cends
Unto them that love the Lord.
Weep not o’er a pass­ing show,
To th’eter­nal world I go.

Weep not that I take my leave
Of the world; that I ex­change
Errors that too close­ly cleave,
Shadows, emp­ty ghosts that range
Through this world of naught and night,
For a land of truth and light.

Weep not, dear­est to my heart,
For I find my Sav­ior near,
And I know that I have part
In the pains He suf­fered here,
When He shed His sac­red blood
For the whole world’s high­est good.

Weep not, my Re­deem­er lives;
Heav’nward spring­ing from the dust,
Clear-eyed Hope her com­fort gives;
Faith, Heav’n’s cham­pi­on, bids us trust;
Love eter­nal whis­pers nigh,
Child of God, fear not to die!