Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Hold up thy mirror to the sun, And thou shalt need an eagle's gaze, So perfectly the polished stone Gives back the glory of his rays:Turn it, and it shall paint as true…

Why should we faint and fear to live alone, Since all alone, so Heaven has willed, we die, Nor e'en the tenderest heart, and next our own, Knows half the reasons why we smile and sigh?Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe…

At length the worst is o'er, and Thou art laid Deep in Thy darksome bed; All still and cold beneath yon dreary stone Thy sacred form is gone;…

As when the Paschal week is o'er, Sleeps in the silent aisles no more The breath of sacred song, But by the rising Saviour's light…

When Persecution's torrent blaze Wraps the unshrinking Martyr's head; When fade all earthly flowers and bays, When summer friends are gone and fled,…