The Mother’s Goodbye (EN 2026)

1

Sit down by the side of your mother, my boy,

You have only a moment, I know;

But you’ll stay till I give you my parting advice,

’Tis all that I have to bestow.

You leave us to seek for employment, my boy,

By the world you have yet to be tried;

But in all the temptations and struggles you meet,

May your heart in the Savior confide.

Hold fast to the right,

Wherever your footsteps may roam;

O forsake not the way of salvation, my boy,

That you learned from your mother at home.

2

You’ll find in your satchel a Bible, my boy,

’Tis the book of all others the best;

It will teach you to live, it will help you to die,

And lead to the gates of the blest.

I gave you to God, in your cradle, my boy,

I have taught you the best that I knew;

And as long as His mercy permits me to live,

I shall never cease praying for you.

3

Your father is coming to bid you goodbye,

O how lonely and sad we shall be;

But when far from the scenes of your childhood and youth,

You’ll think of your father and me.

I want you to feel every word I have said,

For it came from the depths of my love;

And, my boy, if we never behold you on earth,

Will you promise to meet us above?