| Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903. | | | | Hymn to God in my Sickness | | By John Donne (1573–1631) |
| | | SINCE 1 I am coming to that holy room, | |
| Where with the choir of saints for evermore | |
| I shall be made Thy music, as I come | |
| I tune the instrument here at the door, | |
| And what I must do then, think here before. | 5 |
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| We think that Paradise and Calvary, | |
| Christ’s cross and Adam’s tree, stood in one place; | |
| Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me; | |
| As the first Adam’s sweat surrounds my face, | |
| May the last Adam’s blood my soul embrace. | 10 |
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| So in His purple wrapp’d receive me, Lord, | |
| By these His thorns give me His other crown; | |
| And as to other souls I preach’d Thy word, | |
| Be this my text, my sermon to mine own: | |
| “Therefore, that He may raise, the Lord throws down.” | 15 |
| | | Note 1. The “Hymn to God” is a portion of the hymn composed on his deathbed. [back] | | |
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