A Hymn to Christ, at the Authors last going into Germany | ||
In what torn ship soever I embark, | ||
That ship shall be my emblem of thy ark; | ||
What sea soever swallow me, that flood | ||
Shall be to me an emblem of thy blood; | ||
5 | Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise | |
Thy face; yet through that mask I know those eyes, | ||
Which, though they turn away sometimes, | ||
They never will despise. | ||
I sacrifice this island unto thee, | ||
10 | And all whom I loved there, and who loved me; | |
When I have put our seas twixt them and me, | ||
Put thou thy sea betwixt my sins and thee. | ||
As the trees sap doth seek the root below | ||
In winter, in my winter now I go, | ||
15 | Where none but thee, theternal root | |
Of true love I may know. | ||
Nor thou nor thy religion dost control, | ||
The amorousness of an harmonious soul, | ||
But thou wouldst have that love thyself; as thou | ||
20 | Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now, | |
Thou lovst not, till from loving more, thou free | ||
My soul. Who ever gives, takes liberty; | ||
O, if thou carst not whom I love | ||
Alas, thou lovst not me. | ||
25 | Seal then this bill of my divorce to all, | |
On whom those fainter beams of love did fall; | ||
Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be | ||
On fame, wit, hopes (false mistresses) to thee. | ||
Churches are best for prayer that have least light; | ||
30 | To see God only I go out of sight; | |
And to scape stormy days, I choose | ||
An everlasting night. | ||
Robert Clark