Lord! Oh, hold in Thy hand my child,
 Guard by the river its playing!
Send Thou Thy Spirit as comrade mild,
 Lest it be lost in its straying!
Deep is the water and false the ground.
Lord, if His arms shall the child surround,
 Drowned it shall not be, but living,
 Till Thou salvation art giving.

Mother, whom loneliness befalls,
 Knowing not where it is faring,
Goes to the door, and its name there calls;
 Breezes no answer are bearing.
This is her thought, that everywhere
He and Thou for it always care;
 Jesus, its little brother,
 Follows it home to mother.