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THE VOICE IN THE GLOAMING, by                    
First Line: I heard a voice in the gloaming-time
Last Line: "hast heard the orphan's prayer."
Subject(s): Desire; Prayer


I HEARD a voice in the gloaming-time
Singing out in the lonely street;
The notes rose up in a wailing chime,
Then fell with a sadness sweet.
I listen'd awhile and my heart was stirr'd,
'Twas a song of sorrow and pain,
I gently stole out in the darkness and heard
The last of the touching strain --
"Father above! Hear me to-night,
My mother I would save,
Cold is our home, no fire, no light,
Give me of bread, I crave."

I heard a voice in a dingy room,
Crying out in a dying tone,
"My child, my child, how deep is the gloom,
Come back to your mother, lone."
A footstep was heard on the creaking stair,
And a shout -- "O mother! I come;"
But a weeping child breath'd in silence a prayer,
As a mother-soul went home --
"Father above! Hear me to-night,
O with Thy child abide;
I'm but a sinner in Thy sight,
Be Thou my only guide."

I saw a child by a grave-side stand,
And the tears from her bright eyes fell,
As the sexton old, with a kindly hand,
Hid all that she loved so well;
Then wandering away from a scene so dark,
To a world all bright and fair,
Like the weary dove coming back to the ark,
God had a friend waiting there --
"I thank Thee, Father, God of Love,
For all Thy tender care;
I know that Thou in heaven above
Hast heard the orphan's prayer."





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