English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 165. A Hymn to God the Father |
| | | John Donne (1573–1631) |
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| WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun, | |
| Which was my sin, though it were done before? | |
| Wilt Thou forgive that sin through which I run, | |
| And do run still, though still I do deplore? | |
| When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done; | 5 |
| For I have more. | |
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| Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won | |
| Others to sin, and made my sins their door? | |
| Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun | |
| A year or two, but wallow’d in a score? | 10 |
| When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done; | |
| For I have more. | |
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| I have a sin of fear, that when I’ve spun | |
| My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; | |
| But swear by Thyself that at my death Thy Son | 15 |
| Shall shine as He shines now and heretofore: | |
| And having done that, Thou hast done; | |
| I fear no more. | |
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