Is Your Lamp Burning?

Say

is your lamp burn­ing

my bro­ther?

I pray you look quick­ly and see;

For if it were burn­ing

then sure­ly

Some beam would fall bright­ly on me.

There are ma­ny and ma­ny around you

Who fol­low wher­ev­er you go;

If you thought that they walked in the sha­dow

Your lamp would burn bright­er

I know.

Say

is your lamp burn­ing

my bro­ther?

I pray you look quick­ly and see;

For if it were burn­ing

then sure­ly

Some beam would fall bright­ly on me!

Upon the dark mount­ains they stum­ble

They are bruised on the rocks

and they lie

With tear-filled eyes turned plead­ing up­ward

To the clouds and the pi­ti­ful sky.

There is ma­ny a lamp that is light­ed—

We be­hold them a-near and afar;

But not ma­ny among them

my bro­ther

Shine stea­di­ly on like a star.

If once all the lamps that are light­ed

Should stea­di­ly blaze in a line

Wide ov­er the land and the ocean

What a gir­dle of glo­ry would shine!

How all the dark plac­es would bright­en!

How the mists would roll up and away!

How the earth would laugh out in her glad­ness

To hail the mil­len­ni­al day!