Just a line to say Good-bye, and God be with thee, that is all.
Round about thee he His loving and His everlasting arms,
Thro’ the dangers of the deep and terrors dread that do appal,
Mid the brawling of the billows and the numberless alarms.
From this great world’s utmost limits, from the South Pacific sea,
From the land so rudely riven by the white man from the black,
From the country of the kangaroo a calling comes to thee,
And the echo in thy heart forbids a coward turning back.
Love the darkness deep defies, and love the tempest laughs to scorn,
Therefore shall the wrathful ocean music make upon thine ear,
And on love’s unerring vision bright the coming bridal morn
Shall thro’ night’s funebral shadows o’er the watery waste appear.
It will surely cause thee sorrow from Auld Reekie to depart,
But there’s one in far Australia who has thine affections won.
’Tis the feeble moon in Scotia that is tugging at thy heart,
But the orb that draws thee thither is his majesty the Sun.
Thou wilt find thy Saviour near tho’ every human prop should fail,
He will hold thee in His keeping till thou reach thy journey’s end,
And will never, never leave thee, till within the heavenly veil
Thou hast proved the faithfulness of such a Lover and a Friend.
He has promised to be with us till the close, and this is sure,
Therefore spite of things untoward on His faithfulness we rest;
Be it health, or be it sickness; be we rich, or be we poor,
All is by His wise ordaining, therefore all is for the best.
He has shed His blood to save us from the death that was our due,
He has planted us in righteousness before the Father’s face;
And tho’ we to reach that land must tread an arid desert thro’,
We can count upon His mercy and His never failing grace.
Love to thee and thy beloved. Shall we ever meet again?
Surely we shall meet in heaven; but on earth? Ah! who can tell?
When the Saviour comes and calls us we shall meet in glory—then
Oceans shall no longer sunder. Till that meeting, Fare thee Well.