Люси Ларком (Lucy Larcom)

Hymns of a Day

Dawn
O GOD, Thy world is sweet with prayer;
The breath of Christ is in the air;
We rise on Thy free Spirit's wings,
And every thought within as sings.
Thou art our Morning and our Sun;
Our work is glad, in Thee begun;
Our footworn path is fresh with dew,
For Thou createst all things new.
O God, within us and above,
Close to us in the Christ we love,
Through Him, our only Guide and Way,
May heavenly life be ours to-day!
Noontide
When the weary noonday heat
Scorches hillside, lane and street,
May my life a breeze and shade
For Thy wayfarers be made!
Of Thy river, full and free,
Send a cooling draught by me,
That Thy thirsty ones may bless
Thine abounding tenderness.
Let Thy joy and beauty grow
In my path for them, that so
We may see that Thou hast given
Earth to be our road to heaven.
Let me bear Thy love's perfume
Into haunts of guilt and gloom,
Winning so the sin-sick one
Forth to Thee, the Light, the Sun!
Let me wash Thy wanderers' feet,
Take them in, and bid them eat!
While they share my daily bread,
May our souls by Thee be fed!
Make my heart a home and rest
For Thine outcast and oppressed!
Let us find, of Thy sweet grace,
In Thyself our dwelling-place!
Shut for one calm hour away
From the clamor of the day,
All our work will happier be
For this noontide rest with Thee!
Nightfall
Softly has the night descended;
Now in darkness day is ended:
Starry watchers without number
Guard the wide world wrapped in slumber.
Sleep, O weary ones and lowly!
Jesus send you visions holy
Out of unveiled heavenly places,
Luminous with angel-faces!
Jesus slept within death's portal;
Opened it to life immortal;
Lighted up our human story
With the promise of His glory.
Pilgrim, sleep! forget thy sorrow!
Sleep, in sure hope of to-morrow:
Rise, then, to divine endeavor!
Rise, to share His life forever!