Classic Poem

O Light of all light, and the source
Both of knowledge and things that it knows,
Holy Spirit, the sun of the soul,
Both the light and the truth that it shows.

From Thee are the gifts of the mind,
Ever learning by thought after thought,
Ever reading Thy skill in Thy works,
So to work as it sees Thou hast wrought.

From Thee our speech to give on
To the younger the elders' good lore,
Yea, the words that shall hold for the world
All the knowledge of man's gather'd store.

So bless the good speech of the tongue,
And the book-speech, that speaks to the sight,
Yea, the words that are spoken by air,
And the words that outspeak by the light.

And be Thou a guide and a help
To the teacher, and all that are taught,
And the more be the learning they win,
So the clearer be Thou to their thought,

That so goodly learning may speed,
And our children, with book and with pen,
May in wisdom grow on with their growth,
And in favor with Thee and with men.

That the high and the low may be trained
In good ways and good learning in youth,
And may live as the children of light,
And may die in Thy light and Thy truth.