Somno refectis artubus

Our limbs refreshed with slumber now

Somno refectis artubus,
Spreto cubili surgimus:
Nobis, Pater, canentibus
Adesse te deposcimus.
Te linuga primum concinat,
Te mentis ardor ambiat:
Ut actuum sequentium
Tu, sancta, sis exordium.
Cedant tenebræ lumini,
Et nox diuron sideri,
Ut culpa, quam nox intulit,
Lucis labascat munere.
Precamur iidem supplices,
Noxas ut omnes amputes,
Et ore te canentium
Lauderis omni tempore.
Præsta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice,
Cum Spiritu Paraclito
Regnans per omne sæculum.

Our limbs refreshed with slumber now,
And sloth cast off, in prayer we bow;
And while we sing Thy praises dear,
O Father, be Thou present here.
To Thee our earliest morning song,
To Thee our heart’s full powers belong;
And Thou, O Holy One, prevent
Each following action and intent.
As shades at morning flee away,
And night before the star of day;
So each transgression of the night
Be purged by Thee, celestial Light!
Cut off, we pray Thee, each offense,
And every lust of thought and sense;
That by their lips who Thee adore
Thou mayst be praised forevermore.
Grant this, O Father ever One
With Christ, Thy sole-begotten Son,
And Holy Ghost, whom all adore,
Reigning and blest forevermore.

Author: St. Ambrose (340-397). Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by J. M. Neale. There are seventeen translations.

“Our limbs having been refreshed with sleep, spurning our bed, we rise: O Father, we beseech Thee, that Thou be near us, who sing Thy praises.” Spreto cubili, abl. absolute.
“Let our tongue first praise Thee, may the ardor of our soul seek after Thee, that Thou, O Holy One, mayest be the source of the actions that follow—throughout the day.” Exordium, beginning, source, etc. A good morning offering will make God the beginning or source of all our daily actions.
“Let darkness give way to light, and night to the daystar, that sin, which darkness brought in, may depart with the gift (advent) of light.” Light is a symbol of Christ; night and darkness are symbols of sin and of the powers of darkness. Christ is the True Light (John 1, 9) at whose rising or advent, spiritual darkness wanes.
“We also suppliantly pray that Thou remove all hurtful things, and that Thou, out of the mouths of those praising Thee, mayest be forever praised.” Iidem: “Idem, the same, is often used where the English requires an adverb or adverbial phrase (also, too, yet, at the same time).”— Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar, 298, b. In reading iidem, elide one i and read idem.