"I Bow My Forehead To The Dust"

The hymn “I Bow My Forehead To The Dust” was written by John Greenleaf Whittier to be published in his The Tent and Other Poems, in 1867.  Whittier became an editor of various magazines and publications at the age of 22, such as Boston’s American Manufacturer, and Hartford, Connecticut’s New England Weekly Review.  He is known as “America’s Quaker Poet,” having written almost 100 hymns, such as “I Bow My Forehead to the Dust.”

The melody for the hymn “I Bow My Forehead To The Dust” comes from Henry Vander Werp’s composition “Resting Place” written in 1911.  Not much else is known about Vander Werp, except that he wrote three musical compositions.

“I Bow My Forehead To The Dust”

I bow my forehead to the dust,
I veil mine eyes for shame,
And urge, in trembling self distrust,
A prayer without a claim.
No offering of mine own I have,
Nor works my faith to prove;
I can but give the gifts He gave,
And plead His love for love.

I dimly guess, from blessings known,
Of greater out of sight;
And, with the chastened psalmist, own
His judgments too are right.
And if my heart and flesh are weak
To bear an untried pain,
The bruiséd reed He will not break,
But strengthen and sustain.

I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.
And so beside the silent sea
I wait the muffled oar;
No harm from Him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care;
And Thou, O Lord, by Whom are seen
Thy creatures as they be,
Forgive me if too close I lean
My human heart on Thee.

If John Greenleaf Whittier’s name seems familiar, it isn’t because of having written the hymn, “I Bow My Forehead To The Dust.”  It is because of his devotion to his work within the anti-slavery movement in America.  He was the secretary for the American Anti-Slavery Society.

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