Words: Un­known au­thor, poss­i­bly 18th Cen­tu­ry (So prae­ceps ra­pi­tur, prox­i­ma nox adest); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by , Masque of Ma­ry, 1858.

Music: Twi­light, J. H. Hopkins (?). Al­ter­nate tune:

  • St. Co­lum­ba (Ir­ons), , 1861

The sun is sinking fast,
The daylight dies;
Let love awake, and pay
Her evening sacrifice.

As Christ upon the cross
His head inclined,
And to His Father’s hands
His parting soul resigned;

So now herself my soul
Would wholly give
Into His sacred charge
In Whom all spirits live;

So now beneath His eye
Would calmly rest,
Without a wish or thought
Abiding in the breast;

Save that His will be done,
Whate’er betide;
Dead to herself, and dead
In Him to all beside.

Thus would I live: yet now
Not I, but He,
In all His power and love,
Henceforth alive in me.

One sacred Trinity,
One Lord divine,
May I be ever His,
And He forever mine.