| Hushed was the evening hymn, The temple courts were dark, The lamp was burning dim Before the sacred ark, When suddenly a voice divine Rang through the silence of the shrine. | | The old man, meek and mild, The priest of Israel, slept; His watch the temple-child, The little Levite, kept; And what from Eli's sense was sealed, The Lord to Hannah's son revealed. | | O give me Samuel's ear, The open ear, O Lord, Alive and quick to hear Each whisper of thy word! Like him to answer at thy call, And to obey thee first of all. | | O give me Samuel's heart, A lowly heart, that waits Where in thy house thou art, Or watches at thy gates! By day and night, a heart that still Moves at the breathing of thy will. | | O give me Samuel's mind, A sweet, unmurmuring faith, Obedient and resigned To thee in life and death! That I may read with childlike eyes Truths that are hidden from the wise. | |