Life (Vita Nostra Plena Bellis) - Alain de L'Isle

A battle-field is life, 

Where sorrow comes and strife 

Our strength to try; 

Each morning dawns with fear, 

Each evening brings the tear, 

And death is nigh. 

Yet firmly will I face, 

Life's sorrow and disgrace, 

Nor dread their power; 

By faith sustained, I'll meet 

The enemy's deceit 

To my last hour. 

For he who rules on high, 

Comes from the cloven sky, 

And robed in cloud, 

Maintains for me the fight 

Against the foes of light, 

The fierce, the proud. 

The arrow and the bow 

Of evil will he throw 

To endless fire; 

So, fearless will I stand, 

And conquer by his hand 

Each false desire. 

---

Alain de L'Isle (1128 - 1203) France

Translated  by Daniel Joseph Donahoe

Source: Early Christian hymns, Series II : translations of the verses of the early and middle ages

by Daniel Joseph Donahoe, 1911