O unity of threefold light - Metrophanes of Smyrna

O unity of threefold light, 

Send out thy loveliest ray. 

And scatter our transgression's night, 

And turn it into day! 

Make thou those temples pure and fair 

Thy glory loveth well, 

The spotless tabernacles, where 

Thou mayst vouchsafe to dwell! 

The glorious hosts of peerless night 

That ever see thy face. 

Thou mak'st the mirrors of thy light, 

The vessels of thy grace; 

Then when their wondrous strain they weave, 

Hast pleasure in the lay: 

Deign thus our praises to receive, 

Albeit from lips of clay! 

And yet thyself they cannot know, 

Nor pierce the veil of light 

That hides thee from the thrones below, 

As in profoundest night: 

How then can mortal accents frame 

Due tribute to the King ? 

Thou only, while we praise thy name, 

Forgive us while we sing! 

---

Metrophanes of Smyrna (9th century) Turkey

Translated by John Mason Neal

Source: Songs of the soul: gathered out of many lands and ages, by Samuel Irenaeus Prime, Robert Carter and Brothers, 1874