Bear ye one another’s burdens
Thus the Saviour’s Law fulfil;
Jesus trod this very pathway
And you too must tread it still.
Sharing other people’s sorrows
Soothing other people’s smarts;
Lifting loads from weaker shoulders
Healing wounded, broken hearts.

Bear ye one another’s burdens
Self forgetting every day
Thinking what to ease another
We can do, or we can say.
Cheering sometimes by our presence
Those who seem a friend to need,
By some little self-denial,
We may prove a friend indeed

But I have so many worries
Burdens of my own to bear
How can I another’s carry?
How can I another’s share?
All my time is fully taken
Bearing burdens of my own.
How can I then help a comrade?
Every man must stand alone.

Bear ye one another’s burdens
Help some other on the road
And you’ll find your own heart lightened
And forget your own hard load.
For the heart can ne’er be heavy
If it cheer one heavier still
Bear ye one another’s burdens
So the law of Christ fulfil.

Lyrics by Fairelie Thornton (aka Florence Rudge)

First published in a book named “Love” by Fairelie Thornton in 1922.

Earliest record of it being sung in Australia was in 1945 in the Grafton Diocese.
It has been sung to the tunes of:

• “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven”
• “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken”
• “Through the Night of Doubt and Sorrow”
• In recent times it is usually sung to the music of “The Carnival is Over” written by Tom Springfield and was based on a Russian folk song from circa 1883.