No. 10 Dying Californian, Osh 410
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
Lay up nearer, brother, nearer,
For my limbs are growing cold,
And thy presence seemeth nearer,
When thine arms around me fold.
I am dying, brother, dying;
Soon you’ll miss me in your berth,
For my form will soon be lying
’Neath the ocean’s briney deep.
I am going, surely going,
But my hope in God is strong;
I am willing, brother, knowing
That he doth nothing wrong.
Tell my father, when you greet him,
That in death I prayed for him,
Prayed that I might only meet him
In a world that’s free from sin.
Tell my mother,—God assist her,
Now that she is growing old,—
That her child would glad have kissed her
When his lips grew pale and cold.
Listen, brother, catch each whisper,
’Tis my wife I’ll speak of now;
Tell, O tell her how I missed her,
When the fever burned my brow.
Tell her she must kiss my children,
Like the kiss I last impressed;
Hold them as when last I held them,
Folded closely to my breast.
Give them early to their maker,
Putting all her trust in God;
And he never will forsake her,
For he’s said so in his word.
Oh! my children, Heaven bless them,
They were all my life to me;
Would I could once more caress them
Before I sink beneath the sea.
’Twas for them I crossed the ocean,
What my hopes were I’d not tell,
But they gained an orphan’s portion,—
Yet he doth all things well.
Listen, brother, closely listen,
Don’t forget a single word,
That in death my eyes did glisten
With the tears her memory stored.
Tell them I never reached the haven,
Where I sought the precious dust,
But I’ve gained a port called heaven
Where the gold will never rust.
Tell my sisters I remember
Every kind and parting word,
And my heart has been kept tender
By the thoughts its memory stirred.
Urge them to secure an entrance,
For they’ll find a brother there.
Faith in Jesus and repentance
Will secure for them a share.
Hark! I hear my Savior speaking;
’Tis—I know his voice so well,
When I’m gone, O don’t be weeping,
Brother, hear my last farewell.
The song seems to have been inspired by the fate of one of the “forty-niners.” It made its first appearance in fasola circles in the 1859 edition of the Sacred Harp where it is attributed to Ball and Drinkard. For references as to its origin see Hudson, Folksongs of Mississippi, 221.