Ho! thou traveler on life's highway,
Moving carelessly along;
Pausing not to note the darkness
Lowering o'er the struggling throng;
Waiting not to mark how feebly
Some are laboring in the fight,
Bending on thee wistful glances,—
Turn aside, and hold the light!
Look! upon thy right a brother
Wanders blindly from the way;
And upon thy left a sister,
Frail and erring, turns astray.
One kind word, perchance, may save them,
Guide their wayward steps aright;
Canst thou, then, withhold thy counsel?
No! but fly, and hold the light!
Hark! a feeble wail of anguish
Bursts from the advancing throng,
And a little child is groping
Through the shadows deep and long.
'Tis a timid orphan, sinking
'Neath misfortune's withering blight;
Friends, home, love, are all denied her:
Oh, in pity hold the light!
Not alone in heathen darkness,
Where the pagan bows the knee,
Worshiping his senseless image
With a blind idolatry,—
Where no blessed gospel teachings
E'er illume the soul's dark night,
Comes the cry to listless mortals,
Wild and pleading, "Hold the light!"
Here as well, in life's broad highway,
Are benighted wanderers found;
And if all the strong would aid them,
Lights would glimmer all around.
Acts of love and deeds of kindness
Then would make our pathway bright,
And we'd have no need of calling,
"Ho! thou traveler, hold the light!"
