19 January 2020

Keep.

Inness, The Lonely Pine -- Sunset, 1893


Jesus Lord, well of all goodness,
For thy great pity I thee pray:
Forgive me all my wickedness
Wherewith I have grieved thee today.

Honour and praising to thee be,
And thanking for thy gifts all
That I this day received of thee;
Now, courteous Christ, to thee I call.

This night from peril thou me keep,
My body's rest while that I take;
And as long as mine eyen sleep,
Mine heart in thy service wake.

For fear of the fiend our foe,
From foul dreams and fantasies
Keep me this night, from sin also,
In cleanness that I may uprise.

Save my good-doers from grievance,
And quit them what they on me spend.
Keep my enemies from noyans,
And give them grace for to amend.

Mercy, Jesu, and grant mercy;
My body, my soul, I thee bekene,
In nomine patris et filii
Et spiritus sancti, Amen.

Anonymous, 15th c.

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