The moon shines bright and the stars give a light A little before it is day The Lord our God He for-gave us, And bids us awake and pray.
The life of man is but a span, And cut down in its flower, We’re here to-day, to-morrow gone, The creatures of an hour. To-day you may be alive and well, Worth many a thousand pound; To-morrow dead and cold as clay, Your corpse laid underground.
With one turf at thine head, O man, And another at thy feet; Thy good deeds and thy bad, O man, Will all together meet. My song is done, I must be gone, I can stay no longer here; God bless you all, both great and small, And send you a joyful new year.