C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Louise Chandler Moulton (1835–1908)

BECAUSE I seek thee not, oh seek thou me!

Because my lips are dumb, oh, hear the cry

I do not utter as thou passest by,

And from my lifelong bondage set me free!

Because content I perish, far from thee,

Oh seize me, snatch me from my fate, and try

My soul in thy consuming fire! Draw nigh

And let me, blinded, thy salvation see.

If I were pouring at thy feet my tears,

If I were clamoring to see thy face,

I should not need thee, Lord, as now I need,

Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,

Nor dreads the outer darkness of this place;—

Because I seek not, pray not, give thou heed!