Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Day 16 to the Countdown to Christmas is a throwback to my parents (both have passed to the other side). Pictured is mom, my brother, and me (1963). Dad was always the one taking the pictures. He enjoyed listening to Mario Lanza (the featured CD of the day). My mom taught me this prayer when I was a child. I found the extended version in a 1902 publication Select Readings and Recitations by Benjamin J. Fernie, Ph.D.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Near the camp-fire's flickering light,
In my blanket bed I lie,
Gazing through the shades of night
And the twinkling stars on high;
O'er me spirits in the air
Silent vigils seem to keep,
As I breathe my childhood's prayer,
"Now I lay me down to sleep."

Sadly sings the whip-poor-will
In the boughs of yonder tree;
Laughingly the dancing rill
Swells the midnight melody.
Foemen may be lurking near,
In the canon dark and deep;
Low I breathe in Jesus' ear:
"I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep."

'Mid those stars one face I see--
One the Saviour turned away--
Mother, who in infancy
Taught my baby lips to pray;
Her sweet spirit hovers near
In this lonely mountain-brake.
Take me to her Saviour dear
"If I should die before I wake."

Fainter grows the flickering light,
As each ember slowly dies;
Plaintively the birds of night
Fill the air with sad'ning cries;
Over me they seem to cry:
"You may never more awake."
Low I lisp: "If I should die, 
I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take,"

Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take. 

The author also had the notation Found in the Knapsack of a Soldier of the Civil War After He Had Been Slain in Battle.

What I am listening to - Mario Lanza