| IN childhood’s pride I said to Thee: | |
| ‘O Thou, who mad’st me of Thy breath, | |
| Speak, Master, and reveal to me | |
| Thine inmost laws of life and death. | |
| |
| ‘Give me to drink each joy and pain | 5 |
| Which Thine eternal hand can mete, | |
| For my insatiate soul would drain | |
| Earth’s utmost bitter, utmost sweet. | |
| |
| ‘Spare me no bliss, no pang of strife, | |
| Withhold no gift or grief I crave, | 10 |
| The intricate lore of love and life | |
| And mystic knowledge of the grave.’ | |
| |
| Lord, Thou didst answer stern and low: | |
| ‘Child, I will hearken to thy prayer, | |
| And thy unconquered soul shall know | 15 |
| All passionate rapture and despair. | |
| |
| ‘Thou shalt drink deep of joy and fame, | |
| And love shall burn thee like a fire, | |
| And pain shall cleanse thee like a flame, | |
| To purge the dross from thy desire. | 20 |
| |
| ‘So shall thy chastened spirit yearn | |
| To seek from its blind prayer release, | |
| And spent and pardoned, sue to learn | |
| The simple secret of My peace. | |
| |
| ‘I, bending from my sevenfold height, | 25 |
| Will teach thee of My quickening grace, | |
| Life is a prism of My light, | |
| And Death the shadow of My face.’ | |
