AN EVENING PLAINT

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 5, 1861

AN EVENING PLAINT.

O, one day less of life's short score This evening's shadows leave me, And of my misspent days, one more Makes the gray twilight grieve me.

Yet, could I set time's dark lines back To morning, on life's dial, My trembling feet would fly the track, And shun a second trial.

I dare not ask to live again The day so ill completed, Though throbs my heart with only pain, For hopes and plans defeated.

So poor am I, in strength, to do My daily stint of duty; So loth my labor to pursue, So sure to mar its beauty;

So ready for the tempter's snare— So feeble in resistance; So faithless, and so cold in prayer, And Christ at such a distance;

That I can only weep to-night, Tears born of hope and sorrow; Of sorrow, for the day's vain flight, Of hope, that on the morrow

New strength may nerve my fainting heart, New faith make prayer availing; New wisdom light my inward part; New pardon blot each failing;

New ardor bring me near the cross, New love forbid my straying; And night bring gain instead of loss; For which, in tears, I'm praying. "R."—Watchman and Reflector.