Across the River

Top Text Author Text Info Tune Timeline Page Scans Instances

When for me the silent oar

Author: Lucy Larcom
Tune: [O, hvor hastig tiden gaar]
Published in 24 hymnals

Representative Text

1 When for me the silent oar
Parts the silent river,
And I stand upon the shore
Of the strange forever,
Shall I miss the loved and known?
Shall I vainly seek my own?
Shall I miss the loved and known?
Vainly seek my own?

2 Can the bonds that make us here
Know ourselves immortal,
Drop away like foliage sere
At life's inner portal?
What is holiest below
Must forever live and grow;
What is holiest below
Must forever grow.

3 He who plants within our hearts
All this deep affection,
Giving, when the form departs,
Fadeless recollection,
Will but clasp the unbroken chain
Closer when we meet again;
Will but clasp the unbroken chain
When we meet again.

4 Therefore dread I not to go
O'er the silent river;
Death, thy hastening oar I know;
Bear me, thou life giver!
Through the waters to the shore,
When mine own have gone before;
Through the waters in the shore,
Where they're gone before.

Source: The Morning Stars Sang Together: a book of religious songs for Sunday schools and the home circle #85

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Lucy Larcom

Larcom, Lucy, was born at Beverley Farm, Massachusetts, in 1826. Her Poems were published in 1864. Her hymn, "When for me the silent oar" [Death Anticipated), was published in 1868. She died in 1893. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)… Go to person page >

^ top

Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	When for me the silent oar
Title:	Across the River
Author:	Lucy Larcom
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	When for us the silent oar
Copyright:	Public Domain