When Gathering Clouds Around I View

When ga­ther­ing clouds around I view

And days are dark

and friends are few

On Him I lean

who

not in vain

Experienced ev­ery hu­man pain;

He sees my wants

al­lays my fears

And counts and trea­sures all my tears.

If aught should tempt my soul to stray

From heav’n­ly wis­dom’s nar­row way

To fly the good I would pur­sue

Or do the sin I would not do—

Still He

who felt temp­ta­tion’s pow­er

Shall guard me in that dan­ger­ous hour.

If wound­ed love my bo­som swell

Deceived by those I prized too well—

He shall His pi­ty­ing aid be­stow

Who felt on earth sev­er­er woe

At once be­trayed

de­nied

or fled

By those who shared His dai­ly bread.

If vex­ing thoughts with­in me rise

And sore dis­mayed my spir­it dies

Still He who once vouch­safed to bear

The sick­en­ing ang­uish of des­pair

Shall sweet­ly soothe

shall gent­ly dry

The throb­bing heart

the stream­ing eye.

When

sor­row­ing

o’er some stone I bend

Which co­vers what was once a friend

And from his voice

his hand

his smile

Divides me—for a lit­tle while

Thou

Sav­ior

mark’st the tears I shed

For Thou didst weep o’er La­za­rus dead.

And O

when I have safe­ly passed

Through ev­ery con­flict—but the last

Still

still un­chang­ing

watch be­side

My pain­ful bed—for Thou hast died;

Then point to realms of cloud­less day

And wipe the lat­est tear away.