Hymns of the Christian Church.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| Latin Hymns |
| | | Hic Breve Vivitur |
| | | From “De Contemptu Mundi” By Bernard of Morlaix. Tr. J. M. Neale (cir. 1125) |
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| BRIEF life is here our portion, | |
| Brief sorrow, short-lived care; | |
| The life that knows no ending, | |
| The tearless life, is there. | |
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| And after fleshly scandal, | 5 |
| And after this world’s night, | |
| And after storm and whirlwind, | |
| Is calm and joy and light. | |
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| There grief is turned to pleasure, | |
| Such pleasure as, below, | 10 |
| No human voice can utter, | |
| No human heart can know: | |
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| The peace of all the faithful, | |
| The calm of all the blest, | |
| Inviolate, unvaried, | 15 |
| Divinest, sweetest, best. | |
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| That peace,—but who may claim it? | |
| The guileless in their way, | |
| Who keep the ranks of battle, | |
| Who mean the thing they say. | 20 |
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| Strive, man, to win that glory, | |
| Toil, man, to gain that light, | |
| Send hope before to grasp it, | |
| Till hope be lost in sight! | |
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