As the sha­dows of ev­en­ing
Are clos­ing me round,
And I’m sit­ting so si­lent­ly here,
Sad and lone is my heart,
For I’m think­ing of home,
And the cher­ished ones who lin­ger there.
A voice I can hear
From the cot­tage as­cend,
To the Lord, with so ten­der a plea;
’Tis the voice of my mo­ther,
Its sweet­ness I know,
Yes, my mother is pray­ing for me.

Refrain

My mother is pray­ing for me,
My mother is pray­ing for me;
’Tis the voice of my mo­ther,
Its sweet­ness I know,
Yes, my mo­ther is pray­ing for me.

There was once a fond place
In that cir­cle for me,
How the thought brings a tear to my eye!
It was next to my mo­ther,
Who loved me so well,
I was dear­est, in those days gone by;
But I knew not the worth of
That kind mo­ther’s love,
Nor how strong such af­fec­tion could be;
And alas! like a pro­di­gal
Wandered away,
While my mo­ther was pray­ing for me.

Refrain

That dear mo­ther is now
At the throne hum­bled low,
And she weeps for her son far away;
And she’s plead­ing, as on­ly
A fond mo­ther can,
For the pro­di­gal now gone as­tray;
Her tears, as they fall, like
The drops of the rain,
Rise to God in im­por­tun­ate plea,
As she bends at the al­tar
Of mer­cy, where oft
We to­ge­ther had bend­ed the knee.

Refrain

O Thou Fa­ther of mer­cies,
Dispenser of grace,
Hear the pray­er I am of­fer­ing now,
And for­give my heart-wan­dr’ings,
And par­don my sin:
In con­tri­tion at Thy feet I bow.
No long­er from love such
As Thine can I turn,
No long­er I’ll wan­der from Thee,
Forgive me, and an­swer
In mer­cy the pray­er
That my mo­ther is pray­ing for me.

Refrain