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The reader can hardly fail to be reminded of Dr. Donne, in these compositions of Hildebert.

The reference in the first line is to the increased length of the days from Christmas, to which the Ecclesiastical poets constantly refer. So Prudentius:

Quid est quod arctum circulum
Sol jam recurrens deserit?
Christusne terris nascitur
Qui lucis auget tramitem?

So S. Peter Chrysologus:—"The days begin to lengthen, because Christ, the True Day, hath arisen."
S. Notker, also, or one of his followers, in a Christmas sequence:—"This the present shining day testifies; increased in its length, because the True Sun, born on earth, hath with the ray of its light dispersed the darkness."

The poet is imitating S. Bernard, in the famous Lætabundus.