Lighten the dark­ness of our life’s long night,
Through which we blind­ly stum­ble to the day,
Shadows mis­lead us; Fa­ther, send Thy light
To set our foot­steps in the home­ward way.

Lighten the dark­ness of our self con­ceit,
The sub­tle dark­ness that we love so well,
Which shrouds the path of wis­dom from our feet,
And lulls our spir­its with its bane­ful spell.

Lighten our dark­ness when we bow the knee
To all the gods we ig­no­rant­ly make
And wor­ship, dream­ing that we wor­ship Thee,
Till clear­er light our slum­ber­ing souls awake.

Lighten our dark­ness when we fail at last,
And in the mid­night lay us down to die;
We trust to find Thee when the night is past,
And day­light breaks across the morn­ing sky.