How Can I Keep From Singing

The last line in each stanza is not of my own creation but one I have heard through-out my life, the phrase can be found in several different types of lamentation musical and written. It is in this spirit in which I have borrowed and continued the use of the phrase “How can I keep from singing”. The moon is hidden, the night sky is in blackness No sun rises in the morning; I am left in madness Bleak is my future, pain riddles my bones None can I turn to, they cast at me stones Love there is none, and no one bringing Tell me how can I keep from singing My trials are as climbing a far and distant mount The River Ruin I must cross to see misery’s fount Loneliness my only companion, in this my strife Death ever present, when will it come for my life Sanctuary just ahead, I hear church bells ringing Tell me how can I keep from singing Now, I set sail upon this dying sea No light there is, in blackness be My hope is found in Christ alone May He reap, that which He has sown Although my tears may be stinging Tell me how can I keep from singing