The Length of Death

Sweet Saviour! take me by the hand.
And lead me through the gloom;
Oh, it seems far to the Other Land,
And dark in the silent tomb!

I thought it was less hard to die,
A straighter road to Thee,
With at least a twilight in the sky,
And one narrow arm of sea.

Saviour! what means this breadth of death,
This space before me lying,
These deeps where life so lingereth,
This difficulty of dying?

So many turns, abrupt and rude,
Such ever-shifting grounds,
Such a strangely peopled solitude,
Such strangely silent sounds?

Another hour! What change of pain
In this last act doth lie!
Surely to live life o'er again
Were less prolix than to die.

How carefully Thou walkest, Lord!
Canst Thou have cause to fear?
Who is that spirit with the sword?
Art Thou not Master here?

Whom are we trying to avoid?
From whom, Lord! must we hide?
Oh can the dying be decoyed,
With his Saviour by his side?

Deeper! - - dark! dark! But yet I follow;
Tighten, dear Lord! Thy clasp!
How suddenly earth seems to hollow,
There is nothing left to grasp!

I cannot feel Thee; art Thou near?
It is all too dark to see;
But let me feel Thee, Saviour dear!
I can go on with Thee.

What speed! How icy-smooth these stones!
Oh might we make less haste?
How the caves echo back my moans
From some invisible waste!

May we not rest, dear Help? Oh no,
Not on a road so steep!
Sweet Saviour! have we far to go?
Ah how I long for sleep!

Loose sand- -and all things sinking! Hark,
The murmur of a sea!
Saviour! it is intensely dark;
Is it near Eternity?

Can I fall from Thee even now?
Both hands, dear Lord! both hands!
Why dost thou lie so deep, so low,
Thou shore of the Happy Lands?

Ah! death is very, very wide,
A land terrible and dry:
If Thou, sweet Saviour! hadst not died,
Who would have dared to die?

Another fall! Surely we steal
On towards Eternity:-
Lord! is this death? I only feel
Down in some sea with Thee.