Child, be thou as pure...

This is a poem for my boss and friend, Candice de Ausen:

Child, oh be thou as pure, sayeth the Lord,
And mindful of black or white, wrong or right.
Never thou be far from the righteous word,
Depart not from the fixed though flick’ring light.
In times o’ darkness, when the banshee screams
Can send e’en the bravest of souls away,
E’er be the guiding di’mond of our dreams.
Deign to enthuse us wi’ thy smiling ray.
Educe thou from us countless hungry minds,
A flame that burst towards heaven; fervent
Until our sacred pursuit o’ truth finds
Sustenance. May these hearts be one as sent.
Ever be nigh, when tempests overrun,
Night will be as day, rain will be as sun.


This is a personal poem for her. Read every first letter of every line going downwards. It is also in Iambic Pentameter, and an Elizabethan type of sonnet.