Lucis Creator optime

O blest Creator of the light,

Who mak'st the day with radiance bright,

And o'er the forming world didst call

The light from chaos first of all;

Whose wisdom joined in meet array

The morn and eve, and named them day:

Night comes with all its darkling fears;

Regard thy people's prayers and tears.

Lest, sunk in sin, and whelmed with strife,

They lose the gift of endless life;

While thinking but the thoughts of time,

They weave new chains of woe and crime.

But grant them grace that they may strain

The heavenly gate and prize to gain:

Each harmful lure aside to cast,

And purge away each error past.

O Father, that we ask be done,

Through Jesus Christ, thine only Son;

Who, with the Holy Ghost and thee,

Doth live and reign eternally.

Amen.