Thou shalt neither rise up by day

Nor lie down by night;

Would God it were dark! thou shalt say;

Would God it were light!

And the sight of thine eyes

As the burning of fire;

shall be made

And thy soul shall be sorely afraid
For thy soul's desire.

Ye whom your lords loved well,
Putting silver and gold on you,

The inevitable hell

Shall surely take hold on you; Your gold shall be for a token,

Your staff for a rod;

With the breaking of bands ye are broken, Saith the Lord God.

TENTH ANTIPHONE.

In our sorrow we said to the night,
Fall down and cover us;

To the darkness at left and at right,
Be thou shed over us;

We had breaking of spirit to mother

And cursing to bride;

And one was slain, and another

Stood up at our side.

We could not arise by day,
Nor lie down by night;

Thy sword was sharp in our way,
Thy word in our sight;

The delight of our eyelids was made
As the burning of fire,

And our souls became sorely afraid
For our soul's desire.

We whom the world loved well,

Laying silver and gold on us, The kingdom of death and of hell Riseth up to take hold on us;

Our gold is turned to a token,

Our staff to a rod;

Yet shalt thou bind them up that were broken,

O Lord our God.

A LAMENTATION.

WH

I.

HO hath known the ways of time
Or trodden behind his feet?

There is no such man among men.
For chance overcomes him, or crime
Changes; for all things sweet

In time wax bitter again.

Who shall give sorrow enough,

Or who the abundance of tears?

Mine eyes are heavy with love

And a sword gone thorough mine ears,
A sound like a sword and fire,
For pity, for great desire;

Who shall ensure me thereof,

Lest I die, being full of my fears?

Who hath known the ways and the wrath,

The sleepless spirit, the root

And blossom of evil will,

The divine device of a god?

Who shall behold it or hath?

The twice-tongued prophets are mute,
The many speakers are still;

No foot has travelled or trod,

No hand has meted, his path.
Man's fate is a blood-red fruit,

And the mighty gods have their fill
And relax not the rein, or the rod.

Ye were mighty in heart from of old,
Ye slew with the spear, and are slain.
Keen after heat is the cold,

Sore after summer is rain,

And melteth man to the bone.
As water he weareth away,

As a flower, as an hour in a day,
Fallen from laughter to moan.
But my spirit is shaken with fear
Lest an evil thing begin,
New-born, a spear for a spear,

And one for another sin.

Or ever our tears began,

It was known from of old and said;

One law for a living man,

And another law for the dead.

For these are fearful and sad,

Vain, and things without breath;

While he lives let a man be glad,

For none hath joy of his death.

II.

Who hath known the pain, the old pain of earth,

Or all the travail of the sea,

The many ways and waves, the birth

Fruitless, the labour nothing worth?

Who hath known, who knoweth, O gods? not we.

There is none shall he hath seen,

say

There is none he hath known.
Though he saith, Lo, a lord have I been,

I have reaped and sown;

I have seen the desire of mine eyes,
The beginning of love,
The season of kisses and sighs

And the end thereof.

I have known the ways of the sea,

All the perilous ways;

Strange winds have spoken with me,
And the tongues of strange days.
I have hewn the pine for ships;
Where steeds run arow,

I have seen from their bridled lips

Foam blown as the snow.