[Music]
Lay up nearer, brother, nearer,
For my limbs are growing cold,
And thy presence seemeth nearer,
When thine arms around me fold.
I am dying, brother, dying;
Soon you'll miss me in your berth,
For my form will soon be lying
'Neath the ocean's briney deep.
I am going, surely going,
But my hope in God is strong;
I am willing, brother, knowing
That he doth nothing wrong.
Tell my father, when you greet him,
That in death I prayed for him,
Prayed that I might only meet him
In a world that's free from sin.
Tell my mother,--God assist her,
Now that she is growing old,--
That her child would glad have kissed her
When his lips grew pale and cold.
Listen, brother, catch each whisper,
'Tis my wife I'll speak of now;
Tell, O tell her how I missed her,
When the fever burned my brow.
Tell her she must kiss my children,
Like the kiss I last impressed;
Hold them as when last I held them,
Folded closely to my breast.
Give them early to their maker,
Putting all her trust in God;
And he never will forsake her,
For he's said so in his word.
Oh! my children, Heaven bless them,
They were all my life to me;
Would I could once more caress them
Before I sink beneath the sea.
'Twas for them I crossed the ocean,
What my hopes were I'd not tell,
But they gained an orphan's portion,--
Yet he doth all things well.
Listen, brother, closely listen,
Don't forget a single word,
That in death my eyes did glisten
With the tears her memory stored.
Tell them I never reached the haven,
Where I sought the precious dust,
But I've gained a port called heaven
Where the gold will never rust.
Tell my sisters I remember
Every kind and parting word,
And my heart has been kept tender
By the thoughts its memory stirred.
Urge them to secure an entrance,
For they'll find a brother there.
Faith in Jesus and repentance
Will secure for them a share.
Hark! I hear my Savior speaking;
'Tis--I know his voice so well,
When I'm gone, O don't be weeping,
Brother, hear my last farewell.
The song seems to have been inspired by the fate of one of the
"forty-niners." It made its first appearance in fasola circles in the
1859 edition of the _Sacred Harp_ where it is attributed to Ball and
Drinkard. For references as to its origin see Hudson, _Folksongs of
Mississippi_, 221.
No. 11
JOHN ADKINS' FAREWELL, SOC 200