I am old and gray—I am old and gray,
And my strength is failing me day by day;
But it warms my heart when the sun has gone
And her robe of stars the night puts on,
To gaze on the glad ones who gather here,
To breathe their sweet songs on my aged ear.
They bear me back—they bear me back,
To the field of youth and its flow’ry track;
When my step was light, and my heart was bold,
And my first young love was not yet cold;
And I gaze on many a smiling brow,
That sleeps in the still old church-yard now.
It wrung my heart—oh! it wrung my heart,
When I saw them one by one depart;
And they cost me full many a tear of wo,
For my hopes then hung on the things below.
But the visions of earthly joy grow dim,
With the whitening hair and the failing limb.
I am old and gray—I am old and gray,
But I’ve strength enough left me to kneel and pray;
And morning and evening I bless the power
That ’woke me to light in the midnight hour,
That spared me, to gaze with an aged eye
On a hope that can never fade or die.
I am gliding on—I am gliding on,
Through a quiet night, to a golden dawn:
And the merry hearts that around me play,
Are star-beams to cheer up my lonely way:
And oh! may the waves of life’s dark sea,
Deal gently with them, as they’ve dealt with me.
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