Evening

EVENING HYMN

The day is past and over:
All thanks, O Lord, to thee!
I pray thee that offenseless
The hours of dark may be.
O Jesu, keep me in thy sight,
And save me through the coming night!

The joys of day are over:
I lift my heart to thee,
And call on thee, that sinless
The hours of sin may be.
O Jesu, make their darkness light,
And save me through the coming night!

The toils of day are over:
I raise the hymn to thee;
And ask that free from peril
The hours of fear may be.
O Jesu, keep me in thy sight,
And guard me through the coming night!

Lighten mine eyes, O Saviour,
Or sleep in death shall I;
And he my wakeful tempter
Triumphantly shall cry,
“He could not make the darkness light;
Nor guard them through the hours of night!”

Be thou my soul’s preserver,
O God; for thou dost know
How many are the perils
Through which I have to go.
Lover of men! O hear my call,
And guard and save me from them all!

Bernhard Pick, Hymns and Poetry of the Eastern Church, (New York; Cincinnati: Eaton & Mains; Jennings & Graham, 1908), 102–103.

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