The Leaves Around Me Falling

Verse 1

The leaves, around me falling, Are preaching of decay; The hollow winds are calling, Come, pilgrim, come away! The day, in night declining, Says I must, too decline; The year, its life resigning,-- Its lot foreshadows mine.

Verse 2

The light my path surrounding, The loves to which I cling, The hopes within me bounding, The joys that round me wing,-- All melt, like stars of even Before the morning's ray,-- Pass upward into heaven, And chide at my delay.

Verse 3

The friends, gone there before me, Are calling from on high; And joyous angels o'er me Tempt sweetly to the sky; Why wait, they say, and wither 'Mid scenes of death and sin? Oh, rise to glory, hither, And find true life begin.