Dear Jesus! ever at my side,

How loving must thou be,

To leave thy home in heaven, to guard

A little child like me.

2 Thy beautiful and shining face

I see not, though so near;

The sweetness of thy soft low voice

I am too deaf to hear.

3 I can not feel thee touch my hand

With pressure light and mild,

To check me, as my mother did

When I was but a child.

4 But I have felt thee in my thoughts,

Fighting with sin for me;

And when my heart loves God, I know

The sweetness is from thee.

5 And when, dear Saviour! I kneel down,

Morning and night, to prayer,

Something there is within my heart

Which tells me thou art there.

6 Yes! when I pray, thou prayest too—

Thy prayer is all for me;

But when I sleep, thou sleepest not,

But watchest patiently.