We need you now, strong guardians of our hearts,
Now, when a darkness lies on sea and land,
When we of weakening faith forget our parts
And bow before the falling of the sand.
Be with us now or we betray our trust,
And say, “There is no wisdom but in death”—
Remembering lovely eyes now closed with dust—
“There is no beauty that outlasts the breath.”
For we are growing blind and cannot see
Beyond the clouds that stand like prison-bars,
The changeless regions of our empery,
Where once we moved in friendship with the stars.
O children of the light, now in our grief,
Give us again the solace of belief.