There in His paradise red roses blow,
    With golden daffodils and lilies pale
    And gentle violets, and down the vale
  The murmuring rivulets for ever flow.

  Sweet balsams, welling from the slender tree,
    And precious spices fill the fragrant air,
    And, hiding by the stream, that blossom rare
  Whose leaves the river hurries to the sea.

  There the blest souls with one accord unite
    To hymn in dulcet song their Saviour’s praise,
    And as the chanting quire their voices raise
  They tread with shining feet the lilies bright.

  Yea, e’en the spirits of the lost, that dwell
    Where the black stream of sullen Acheron flows,
    Rest on that holy night when Christ arose,
  And for a while ’tis holiday in Hell.

  No sun from ocean rising drives away
    Their darkness, with his flaming shafts far-hurled,
    But from the cross of Christ o’er that wan world
  There streams the radiance of a new-born day.

  The sulphurous floods with lessened fury glow,
    The aching limbs find respite from their pain,
    While, in glad freedom from the galling chain,
  The tortured ghosts a short-lived solace know.

  In holy gladness let this night be sped,
    As here we gather, Lord, to watch and pray;
    To Thee with one consent our vows we pay
  And on Thy altar set the sacred Bread.

  From pendent chains the lamps of crystal blaze;
    By fragrant oil sustained the clear flame glows
    With strength undimmed, and through the darkness throws
  High o’er the fretted roof a golden haze,

  As ’twere Heaven’s starry floor our wondering eye
    Beheld, wherein the Bears their light display,
    Where Phosphor heralds the approach of day
  And Hesper’s radiance floods the evening sky.

  Meet is the gift we offer here to Thee,
    Father of all, as falls the dewy night;
    Thine own most precious gift we bring—­the light
  Whereby mankind Thy other bounties see.

  Thou art the Light indeed; on our dull eyes
    And on our inmost souls Thy rays are poured;
    To Thee we light our lamps:  receive them, Lord,
  Filled with the oil of peace and sacrifice.

  O hear us, Father, through Thine only Son,
    Our Lord and Saviour, by Whose love bequeathed
    The Paraclete upon our hearts has breathed,
  With Him and Thee through endless ages one.

  Through Christ Thy Kingdom shall for ever be,
    Thy grace, might, wisdom, glory ever shine,
    As in the Triune majesty benign
  He reigns for all eternity with Thee.

VI.  HYMNUS ante somnum

    Ades Pater supreme,
  quem nemo vidit unquam,
  Patrisque sermo Christe,
  et Spiritus benigne.

    O Trinitatis huius 5
  vis una, lumen unum,
  Deus ex Deo perennis,
  Deus ex utroque missus.