Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom...

The Pillar of the Cloud

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom

          Lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home—

          Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene—one step enough for me.

 

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou

          Shouldst lead me on.

I loved to choose and see my path, but now

          Lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

 

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still

          Will lead me on,

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till

          The night is gone;

And with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

 

 

(By: John Henry Newman, From Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Ashram Bhajnawali, Collected & Compiled by K. Khare Shastri, Published by – Nabjiban Prakashan Mandir, Ahmedabad – 380014, India, Year 1922, pp.222-223)