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Mikhail Lomonosov - A Morning Meditation on God’s Grandeur [1743 (?)]
Translated from the Russian by Philip Nikolayev

Lo and behold, the splendid sun
Has poured its glow upon the earth,
Revealing God’s works unto man:
My soul, relish this morn with mirth
And, marveling at its fine brightness,
Imagine the Creator’s greatness!

If man could fly up high enough
Into yon reaches of the sky
And spy the solar sphere close-up
With his temporal, mortal eye,
Upon the sun he would have found
A burning ocean warpt all round.

Therewithin, endless waves of fire
Rolling on never reach a shore
And flaming whirlwinds twist and roar
In constant strife forevermore
Where all stones melted boil like oil
And raging rains of flames do fall.

This incandescent giant construction
Seems next to you a weemost spark.
How lovely, God, the brilliant lampion
Set up by you amid the dark
To shed daylight on the affairs
That you’ve entrusted to our cares!

Night chased away by spilling rays,
The sea, the woods, the hills, the dales,
Emergent now into our gaze,
Are rippling with your miracles,
Where every beast and bird declare:
Great is our Lord beyond compare!

By nature, sunshine can caress
Of objects but the surfaces,
Yet your sight pierces the abyss,
Unstoppable and limitless,
And out of your luminous eyes
The joys of all the world arise.

Creator mine! In darkness yearning,
I pray, extend your wisdom’s rays,
Illumine me with lights of learning,
Instruct me in your works and ways,
So I may gaze at everything
And sing your praise, undying king.