Classic Poem

Lay up nearer, brother, nearer
For my limbs are growing cold,
And thy presence seemeth dearer
When thine arms around me fold.
I am dying, brother, dying,
Soon you'll miss me in your berth,
And my form will soon be lying
'Neath the ocean's briny surf.

Harken, brother, closely harken.
I have something I would say,
Ere the vale my visions darken
And I go from hence away.
I am going, surely going,
For my hope in God is strong,
I am willing, brother, knowing
That he doeth nothing wrong.

Tell my father when you greet him
That in death I prayed for him,
Prayed that I might one day meet him
In a world that is free from sin.
Tell my mother God assist her
Now that she is growing old,
Tell her child would glad have kissed her
When his lips grew pale and cold.

O my children, heaven bless them,
They were all my life to me,
Would I could once more caress them
Ere I sink beneath the sea.
Listen, brother, catch each whisper,
'Tis my wife I 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 their trust in God,
And he never will forsake them
For he said so in his word.

Tell my sister I remember
Every kindly parting word,
And my heart has been kept tender
With the thought this memory stirred.
'Twas for them I crossed the ocean —
What my hopes were I'll not tell;
And I've gained an orphan's portion,
Yet he doeth all things well.

Tell them I never reached that haven
Where I sought the " precious dust, "
But I've gained a port called Heaven
Where the gold will never rust.
Hark, I hear my Saviour speaking,
'Tis his voice I know so well.
When I am gone, O don't be weeping.
Brother, here is my last farewell.