1
Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
2
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
3
Come not in terrors, as the King of kings;
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings:
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea;
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings:
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea;
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.
4
I need Thy presence every passing hour:
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me.
5
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless:
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness:
Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness:
Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
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Nigeria
Indeed inspirational and encouraging!
Best hymn ever!
Cool!!
Lagos, Nigeria
The hymn reassures hope in the place of hopelessness . It reassures me of hope beyond my unaccomplished desires, strength to bear the grief of my late Dear wife. I feel God's presence within.
Listen to the Call of my heart.
Lagos, Nigeria
This piece is highly inspirational and connects my spirit, soul and body quicker than any other hymns. Except You abide with us, we cannot run successfully...
Abuja, Nigeria
i find it hard to sing this song as much as the meaning ministers to my soul. It was sang at my mum's burial and it was too emotional for me. I pray God heals my heart totally.
The words of this Hymn is so apt in conveying the longing of a person's heart to God.
Lagos, Nigeria
So so inspiring; Lord Jesus, Lover of my soul abide with me Lord abide with me till the end.
Detroit, MI, United States
Of Lyte's hymns, "Abide With Me" is the best known. According to the traditional story given in the "Remains", Lyte wrote it a few hours after conducting the final service at his church, which was probably 5 September 1847. More likely the hymn was actually written in July or August of that year. Lyte himself created for the hymn what his biographer has disparaged as "a dull tune." When "Hymns Ancient and Modern" was published in 1861, the editor, William H. Monk—whose three-year-old daughter had just died—composed his own tune, "Eventide," for Lyte's poem. The hymn became a favorite of Kings George V and George VI and was sung at the former's funeral. The hymn also inspired Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener and General Charles "Chinese" Gordon, and it was said to have been on the lips of Edith Cavell as she faced a German firing squad. "Abide with Me" has been sung at the Football Association Cup finals since 1927 when the association secretary substituted the hymn for the playing of "Alexander's Ragtime Band." In Rugby League, the hymn has been sung before the Challenge Cup final since 1929, the first year the match was staged at Wembley Stadium. The hymn is the also the Portora Royal School (where Lyte went to school as a boy) victory song and is sung its remembrance service.
Leon Litvack has written in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography that although Lyte's "poetic energies were directed at scripturally and evangelically minded audiences, his lyric gift was universally appreciated. The example of ‘Abide with me’ is instructive: intensely personal and contemplative, yet nationally popular—even being sung (always, after its publication in 1861, to W. H. Monk's tune, ‘Eventide’) on secular occasions such as at football matches, and especially, since 1927, at the English cup final." The 20th-century hymnologist Erik Routley referred to the "much-loved H. R. Lyte" who "though scriptural and evangelical in his emphases, always writes good literature and is rarely deserted by an exquisite lyric gift. Perhaps the centrally 'romantic' hymn of all hymns is the intensely personal yet, as it has proved, wholly universal hymn, 'Abide with me.' - Wikipedia
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As others have pointed out, this hymn was sung by Emeli Sande at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony in London.