to near

nearer
my God
to thee

       line-making by me

speaking to God
a prayer

this is the aim of the singer
and the sayer
same folk
together though for those who fear one’s singer
could read or hear
and
share along

which counts as prayer
as
worrying over what may count
should
go

there is mention of a cross on the way
or I guess
to
finish it and a rock cited for
rest
while yet on Earth

then to find that everything’s renewed by
the greater faith
that we
acknowledge
and
through salvation join
which is by
will

and what is near is imminent
for
concern or for jubilation

an attitude that’s
set by
choice and then by
eventual
to wait
as one who’s
still
and also one who serves

c l couch


“Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!”—first line of the hymn, from which the title’s taken (the poem was written, arranged, and published in the middle 1800s)

the hymn was reported by survivors of the Titanic to be the last hymn played by the ship’s ensemble

photo by Moritz Mentges on Unsplash


1 Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
2 Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
yet in my dreams I'd be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
. . .