Words: Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924). Stanzas 1, 3, and 6
Music: Merrial, by Sir Joseph Barnby (1838-1896), 1868. The Hymnal 1982
Recording: The Compline Choir, CD “Feathers of Green Gold,” (1994).
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.
Jesus, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With thy tend’rest blessing
May our eyelids close.
Through the long night watches
May thine angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.
Back: Example 24: Salve Regina
I am 71 years old. I learned this hymn from my mother who would play the piano and my older sister and I would sing. I still have the children’s hymn book that we used. It is over 60 years old and I still cherish it. I am going to share it with TJ Thomas, the music minister at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lewes, Delaware, who has reinstituted Compline in our little church. He is an exceptional musician and should be recognized for his bringing our church back to true tradition.
Most sincerely,
Marianna K. Dyal, Lewes, Delaware
Member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
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I used to sing this when I was a child (during World War 2) and I went to Sunday School at our Methodist Church. With bombs and bangs all around, holes in the ground, houses scooped out as though with a giant spoon and friends wiped out with them, that Sunday School was the one thing that was always there in my young life At the end of life this hymn brings much comfort to me.