Lyrics
Softly now the light of day
Fades upon my sight away;
Free from care, from labor free,
Lord, I would commune with Thee.
Thou, whose all-pervading eye
Naught escapes, without, within,
Pardon each infirmity,
Open fault, and secret sin.
Soon for me the light of day
Shall forever pass away;
Then, from sin and sorrow free,
Take me, Lord, to dwell with Thee.
Thou who, sinless, yet hast known
All of man's infirmity;
Then, from Thine eternal throne,
Jesus, look with pitying eye.
Public domain hymn text (1824). Words by George W. Doane.
The Story Behind the Hymn
George Washington Doane, an American clergyman who later became the second Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey, wrote 'Softly Now the Light of Day' in 1824, while still relatively early in his ministry.
The hymn opens by describing an ordinary daily experience, the fading of evening light, before connecting that natural transition to a deliberate turn toward unhurried prayer, 'free from care, from labor free.'
Its second verse turns from calm description to searching request, asking God's 'all-pervading eye' to identify and pardon both visible 'open fault' and hidden 'secret sin.'
The hymn's third verse extends the day's ordinary ending into a picture of the singer's own eventual death, asking to be taken, 'from sin and sorrow free,' the same way each evening's light quietly passes away.
Its closing verse turns to Christ directly, noting that He too, though sinless, 'hast known all of man's infirmity,' and asking Him to look on the singer with that same shared, sympathetic understanding.
The hymn found a lasting place as a standard evening devotional text in American hymnals, valued for modeling a specific, achievable daily practice of honest self-examination at each day's close.
