Christ My Song - 1018
My path through the desert grows dreary - The Fear of Death is fallen upon me (Charlotte Elliott/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
The Fear of Death is fallen upon me.
1. My path through the desert grows dreary,
the shadows of evening draw nigh;
my footsteps are feeble and weary,
to reach the bright city I sigh! PDF - Midi
2. What thoughts, like a bar intervening,
arrest this deep longing for home;
what cloud the bright future is screening,
which wraps the horizon in gloom?
3. There's a perilous gulf to pass over,
no bridge its deep waters can span,
no plummets its depths can discover,
it cannot be fathomed by man!
4. And now, as my sun is declining,
I dimly discern the dark wave;
no light on its surface is shining –
oh! who that dread passage can brave?
5. Then ofttimes the fierce tempest rages,
foes unseen on the margin attend;
my tremulous fancy presages,
I ne'er shall endure to the end!
6. Hark! hark! how the billows are rushing,
how loudly they break on the shore;
will Christ, the wild elements hushing,
secure me a safe passage o'er?
7. When the feet of my Priest touch the river,
the waters will part and subside;
safe, safe is the weakest believer
who claims this Omnipotent Guide.
8. Then on let me cheerfully hasten,
till I stand on the dark river's brink:
there, my firm hold on him will I fasten –
none clinging to Jesus can sink!
Charlotte Elliott, Leaves from the Unpublished Journals, Letters, and Poems of Charlotte Elliott, 207-208.