From the Latin by Catharine Winkworth
[Written in the tenth century by Robert II., the gentle son of Hugh Capet. It is often mentioned as second in rank to the Dies Iræ.]
COME, Holy Ghost! thou fire divine!
From highest heaven on us down shine!
Comforter, be thy comfort mine!
Come, Father of the poor, to earth;
Come, with thy gifts of...
From the Latin by Richard Frederick Littledale
“O Ignis Spiritus Paracliti”
O FIRE of God, the Comforter, O life of all that live,
Holy art thou to quicken us, and holy, strength to give:
To heal the broken-hearted ones, their sorest wounds to bind,
O Spirit of all holiness, O Lover of mankind!
O sweetest taste within the breast, O grace upon us...
In the hour of my distress,
When temptations me oppress,
And when I my sins confess,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
When I lie within my bed,
Sick at heart, and sick in head,
And with doubts discomforted,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
When the house doth sigh and weep,
And the world is drowned in sleep,
Yet mine...
From “Anima Mundi”
GOD is good,
And flight is destined for the callow wing,
And the high appetite implies the food,
And souls most reach the level whence they spring;
O Life of very life! set free our powers,
Hasten the travail of the yearning hours.
Thou, to whom old Philosophy bent low,
To the wise...
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed—
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burthen of a sigh,
The falling of a tear—
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try—
Prayer...
WHEN is the time for prayer?
With the first beams that light the morning’s sky,
Ere for the toils of day thou dost prepare,
Lift up thy thoughts on high;
Commend the loved ones to his watchful care:
Morn is the time for prayer!
And in the noontide hour,
If worn by toil, or by sad cares oppressed,
Then unto God...
To prayer, to prayer;—for the morning breaks,
And earth in her Maker’s smile awakes.
His light is on all below and above,—
The light of gladness, and life, and love.
Oh, then, on the breath of this early air
Send upward the incense of grateful prayer.
To prayer;—for the glorious sun is gone,
And the gathering darkness of night comes on...
Not on a prayerless bed, not on a prayerless bed
Compose thy weary limbs to rest;
For they alone are blessed
With balmy sleep
Whom angels keep;
Nor, though by care oppressed,
Or anxious sorrow,
Or thought in many a coil perplexed
For coming morrow,
Lay not thy...
From “Hamlet,” Act III. Sc. 3.
The King. O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,...
Versified from Tholuck’s Translation out of the Persian
IN heavy sleep the Caliph lay,
When some one called, “Arise, and pray!”
The angry Caliph cried, “Who dare
Rebuke his king for slighting prayer?”
Then, from the corner of the room,
A voice cut sharply through the gloom:
“My name is Satan, Rise! obey
Mohammed’s law; awake...
