Scripture Verse

Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over. Luke 24:29

Introduction

portrait
John B. Dykes (1823–1876)

Words: Ca­rol­ine L. Smith, 1852. Smith was in­spired to write this hymn af­ter hear­ing a ser­mon by Hen­ry M. Dex­ter of Bos­ton on The Adapt­ed­ness of Re­li­gion to the Wants of the Aged. The words were re­cast in the Ply­mouth Col­lect­ion, 1855, and Songs of the Church, 1862.

Music: St. Syl­ves­ter John B. Dykes, 1862 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Smith (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Tarry with me, O my Sav­ior,
For the day is pass­ing by;
See! the shades of ev­en­ing gather,
And the night is draw­ing nigh.

Deeper, deep­er grow the sha­dows,
Paler now the glow­ing west,
Swift the night of death ad­vances;
Shall it be the night of rest?

Lonely seems the vale of sh­adow;
Sinks my heart with trou­bled fear;
Give me faith for clear­er vi­sion,
Speak Thou, Lord, in words of cheer.

Let me hear Thy voice be­hind me,
Calming all these wild alarms;
Let me, un­der­neath my weak­ness,
Feel the ev­er­last­ing arms.

Feeble, trem­bling, faint­ing, dy­ing,
Lord, I cast my­self on Thee;
Tarry with me through the dark­ness;
While I sleep, still watch by me.

Tarry with me, O my Sav­ior,
Lay my head up­on Thy breast
Till the morn­ing; then awake me—
Morning of eter­nal rest.

Here is Smith’s orig­in­al ver­sion, which can be sung to the fol­low­ing tunes:

Tarry with me, O my Sav­iour!
For the day is pass­ing by;
See, the shades of ev­en­ing ga­ther,
And the night is draw­ing nigh;
Tarry with me—tar­ry with me;
Pass me not un­heed­ed by!

Many friends were ga­thered round me,
In the bright days of the past;
But the grave has closed above them,
And I lin­ger here the last!
I am lone­ly: tar­ry with me
Till this drea­ry night is past.

Dimmed for me is earth­ly beau­ty;
Yet the spi­rit’s eye would fain
Rest upon Thy love­ly fea­tures:
Shall I seek, dear Lord, in vain?
Tarry with me, O my Sav­iour!
Let me see Thy smile again.

Dull my ear to earth-born mu­sic:
Speak thou, Lord! in words of cheer;
Feeble, tot­tering my foot­step,
Sinks my heart with sud­den fear:
Cast thine arms, dear Lord! around me,
Let me feel Thy pre­sence near.

Faithful me­mo­ry paints be­fore me
Every deed and thought of sin;
Open thou the blood-filled foun­tain,
Cleanse my guil­ty soul with­in:
Tarry, thou for­giv­ing Sav­iour!
Wash me whol­ly from my sin.

Deeper, deep­er grow the sha­dows;
Paler now the glow­ing west;
Swift the night of death ad­vanc­es—
Shall it be a night of rest?
Tarry with me, O my Sav­iour!
Lay my head up­on Thy breast.

Feeble, trem­bling, pant­ing, dy­ing,
Lord! I cast my­self on Thee:
Tarry with me through the dark­ness,
While I sleep, still watch by me,
Till the morn­ing—then awake me
Dearest Lord! to dwell with Thee.