Stars of Evening, Softly Gleaming

Stars of evening, softly gleaming
In the fading west,
With your heavenly light is streaming
Hope to hearts oppressed!
Toil is over, cease from sorrow,
Till tomorrow
Sleep and rest!

Hark! the evening bells are bringing
Hope of glad release,
Welcome strains their chimes are ringing:
“Labor now shall cease;
Thou the day be long and dreary,
To the weary
Cometh peace!”

Heavenly Father! watch beside us
Till the dawn of light,
And whatever may betide us,
Guard us by thy might!
Trusting in thy gracious keeping,
Calmly sleeping
Through the night.

So when death’s dark clouds fall slowly
Over land and sea,
May thy light, serene and holy,
On our pathway be;
Leading us to joy transcending
In unending
Rest with thee!

Author: Unknown

No clear attribution to a known hymn writer (e.g., not Cecil Frances Alexander, Frances Havergal, or John Ellerton). The style and language suggest a 19th-century author, but it appears anonymously in many older hymnals and songbooks.