Tender Mother, pray for me!

If, in some unguarded hour
Of dark passion or of pride,
Evil thoughts, with serpent power
To my inmost bosom glide--
Ah! while I from bonds unholy,
Vainly seek myself to free--
Mary, pure and meek and lowly,
Pray, oh! Mary, pray for me!

When with Heaven high communing
In the solemn hour of prayer--
To its strains my soul attuning,
I forget all worldly care;
When earth's voices for a season
My vex'd spirit have left free--
Still, dear Mother, near me hover!
Still, sweet Mary, pray for me!

And in that supremest hour,
When life's end is drawing nigh--
When earth's scenes and pomps and power
Fade before my tear-dimmed eye--
When I on the shore am lying
Of eternity's wide sea--
Then, O Refuge of the dying,
Tender Mother, pray for me!