It's time again for my traditional New Year's blog post. I heard this song sung at a New Year's service at church years ago; the pastor read the names of all those who had passed away during the year. A woman then got up, and sang this song to the tune of Auld Lang Syne:

It singeth low in every heart
We hear it each and all
A song of those who answer not
However we may call.
They throng the silence of the breast
We see them as of yore
The Kind, the brave, the true, the sweet
Who walk with us no more.

‘Tis hard to take the burden up
When these have laid it down
They brightened every joy of life
They softened every frown
But oh! ‘tis good to think of them
When we are troubled sore
Thanks be to God that such have been
Though they are here no more.

More homelike seems the vast unknown
Since they have entered there
Tis not so hard to follow them
However they may fare.
They cannot be where God is not
On any sea or shore
What e’er betides, Thy love abides
Our God, forevermore.


In memory of all those who have passed away during the past year: rest in peace, and go with God.

Selah.