A manichean prayer

Come to me, my kinsman, the light, my Guide.
Since I went forth into the darkness I was given a water to drink.
I bear up beneath a burden which is not my own.
I am in the midst of my enemies, the beasts surrounding me ;
the burden which I bear is of the powers and principalities.
They burned in their wrath, they rose up against me.
Matter and her sons divided me up amongst them,
they burnt me in their fire, they gave me a bitter likeness.
The strangers with whom I mixed, me they know not;
they tasted my sweetness, they desired to keep me with them.
I was life to them, but they were death to me ; I bore up beneath them,
they wore me as a garment upon them.
I am in everything, I bear the skies, I am the foundation, I support the earths;
I am the Light that shines forth, that gives joy to the souls.
I am the life of the world; I am the milk that is in all trees; I am the sweet water
that is beneath the sons of matter.
I bore these things until I had fulfilled the will of my Father; the First Man is
my father whose will I have carried out.
Lo, the darkness I have subdued ; lo, the fire of the fountains I have extinguished,
as the sphere turns hurrying round, as the sun receives the refined part of life.
O soul, raise your eyes to the height and contemplate your bond, lo, your fathers
are calling you.
Now go aboard the Ship of Light and receive your garland of glory and return to
your kingdom and rejoice with all the Aeons.