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Awake, our lute, the child to sing
Of bride unwedded, holy maid;
True Son of the Eternal King,
4Ere earth's foundations yet were laid.
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Ineffable Thy counsels, Lord,
Father of all, by which was born
The Christ! a virgin's throes afford
8The Light of Life to world forlorn!
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A Man! and yet of ages gone,
And of all ages yet to come,
Throughout eternity, the One
12Upholder, Perfecter, and Sum.
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Thyself, O Christ, art Fount of Light,
Light of the Father's Light, bright Ray!
Dark matter thou didst burst; and night
16To holy souls Thou turn'st to day.
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Yea! Founder of the world Thou art,
And moulder of each starry sphere:
To earth her spurs Thou dost impart;
20While men hail Thee their Saviour dear.
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For Thee his chariot Titan drives,
The quenchless fount of morning light.
From Thee the bull-faced moon derives
24Her power to loose the gloom of night.
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By Thee the year with fruit is crowned:
By Thee the flocks and herds are fed:
Productive Thou dost make the ground;
28And to the poor Thou givest bread.
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For Thou from Thine o'erflowing store
Of grace ineffable and love,
O'er surface of all worlds dost pour
32The fertile sunshine from above.
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And from Thy bosom forth did spring
To life both light, and mind, and soul:
O pity then Thine own offspring
36Imprisoned under hard control,
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By mortal limbs, by flesh and blood,
Coerced, and measures stern of fate:
O save Thine own, Thou great and good,
40Nor let sick mind sick body hate!
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Persuasion to my words nod Thou,
And to my deeds such honest fame,
That truth I never disavow,
44Nor Sparta1616Synesius was a native of Cyrene, which was an ancient colony of Sparta. nor Cyrene shame!
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But may my soul, unbowed by grief,
Draw all her nourishment from Thee,
Stretching both eyes, in calm relief,
48Up to Thy light, from sorrow free!
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That, cleansed from dregs of worldly soil,
I may by straight course upward mount,
And 'scaping from earth's care and toil,
52Be mingled with the soul's own fount!
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Life such of pure content and praise,
Do Thou to Thy poor harper grant,
While still to Thee the hymn I raise,
56And glory to the Father chant,
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And Spirit,1717Here, as elsewhere, Synesius represents the
Holy Spirit as seated between the Father and the Son, or holding the middle
rank; cf. Ode III. l. 220;
Ode IV. l. 97,
in which latter place, as if to mend Synesius' theology, some sciolist has
made additions contrary to the context, which additions I follow the learned
editors in rejecting. In the New Testament the sacred order given in
Matt. xxviii. 19,
is not strictly or always followed; e. g.
2 Cor. xiii. 14,
1 Pet. i. 2,
Rev. i. 4, 5.
May this help to explain the difficult passage
Heb. xii. 23, 24? mid-enthroned compeer,
The Parent Root and Branch between!
Be such on earth my bright career,
60Nor sin nor sorrow intervene;
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Until, within the courts above,
The travail of my soul shall cease,
Still singing hymns of heavenly love
64In glory and in perfect peace.
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Thee, Thee, the Fount of love, we bless,
O Father, rock and strength of Thine;
And Thee alike, His form express,
68And seal, all beauty, Son Divine;
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And Holy Breath, of both the crown,
Whose quickening gifts like billows roll:
Thou with the Father, send Him down
72To cheer and fertilize my soul!
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