PRELUDE
"He loved the birds
And the green places
And the wind on the heath
And saw the brightness
Of the skirts of God"
Epitaph on Hardy
" O Thou, whose smile pervades the Universe with beauty
In which all things work and move.
Sweet benediction
Which the eclipsing curse of birth can quench not.
O sustaining Love,
Across the web of being blindly wove
By earth and man and beast and sky and tree,
Shining or dim,
As each are mirrors of the fire for which all thirst,
Now beam on us,
Consuming the last clouds
Of cold mortality.
Abide with us, eternal Father,
For the darkness is no darkness with Thee,
But the night is as clear as the day.
Renew our hearts with Thy forgiveness
And our bodies with untroubled sleep;
That we may wake
To use more faithfully
Thy gift of life."
Evening Prayer (from memory)