[197] 15

THINE the gracious dews that render

Herb and flower fair and bright!

Thine th’ eternal fount of splendour

Whence the suns derive their light!

When Thy mercy like a river

Surges from its mighty source,

Ramparts of rebellion shiver

Into ruin in its course.

Tears may rain and sighs may welter

Round Thy path in heaven and earth;

Save for those Thy favours shelter

Tears and sighs are little worth.

All the universe about Thee

Is replete with life and glee;

Seas and skies and earth without Thee

Are but empty symmetry.

We have left behind the regions

Where terrestrial sorrows reign;

Onward march our martyr legions

Insusceptible of pain.

Sing, Makhfi, sing on, nor falter;

In the garden of our dream

O’er all change of hymn and psalter

Rules the love-bird’s note supreme.