VI.

A MORNING PRAYER.
'Orthros [24] didomi t? The? mou dexias,
(Iambic trimeter.)
'Tis dawn: to God I lift my hand,
To regulate my way;
My passions rule, and unmoved stand,
And give to Thee the day:
Not one dark word or deed of sin,
Nor one base thought allow;
But watch all avenues within,
And wholly keep my vow.
Shamed were my age, should I decline;
Shamed were Thy table too,
At which I stand:--the will is mine:
Give grace, my Christ, to do.

[24] 'Orthrois violates metre; I would retain the reading orthros, and put a colon. Thus, as it seems to me, grammar, sense, and metre, may be all satisfied.

A HYMN AT NIGHT, AFTER FAILURE TO KEEP VOW.
epseusamen se ten aletheian, loge,
(Iambic trimeter.)
O Thou, the Word of truth divine!
All light I have not been,
Nor kept the day as wholly Thine;
For Thou dark spots hast seen.
The day is down: night hath prevailed:
My Lord I have belied;
I vowed, and thought to do, but failed;
My steps did somewhere slide.
There came a darkness from below
Obscuring safety's way.
Thy light, O Christ, again bestow;
Turn darkness into day.