Votive antiphon for the Angels
O living light, O angels glorious!
Below divinity,
upon the eyes divine you gaze
within the mystic darkness
of all creation—
in yearnings set alight
where you can ne’er
be satiated:
How glorious too
are these, your joys
your form possesses—
that form that in your number
remains untouched by ev’ry wicked deed
that first arose
in your companion,
that now lost angel
who wished to fly
above, within the hidden
pinnacle of God—
then twisted, tortured, he
was plunged into his ruin.
But yet, his fall’s devices
by cunning plot he laid against the craft
of God’s creative finger.