“ABIDE WITH ME”……
HERE BELOW ARE THE LYRICS OF THE SONG
“Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not, abide with me
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death’s sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee
In life, in death, o Lord, abide with me
Abide with me, abide with me. .”
The words are truly powerful and very poignant indeed …
But I don’t sense anything close to a soldier’s martial spirit being evoked in them or by them … Do you?
There’s not a single word in the hymn referring to “battle”, “country”, “valor” or the “supreme sacrifice” of laying down life for country and flag … Instead, one finds rather un-soldierly words like “helpless”, “ebb of life”, and “glories passing away”…
The song belongs really more to a church choir … not to military commanders who wish to pay tribute to their comrades who fought with them, shoulder to shoulder, but died in battle.
There’s a line — “Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes…” which is clearly religious prayer both in tone and messaging . One wonders what have the Indian Armed Forces that pride themselves on being patriots that are religiously neutral — if not secular altogether— got to do anything with a patently Christian hymn like “Abide With Me”?
Such a huge fuss is being made in this country about introducing singing of a patriotic song like “Vande Maataram” by children in schools.
Why then make the same fuss in this case too which is not about any patriotic song at all but about the place of a religious hymn (or really it’s out-of-place-ness) in a very solemn military setting and ceremony?
Sudarshan Madabushi