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Home  »  Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse  »  Four Sonnets: II. “As due by many titles, I resign”

Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.

By John Donne (1573–1631)

Four Sonnets: II. “As due by many titles, I resign”

 
AS due by many titles, I resign
Myself to Thee, O God! First I was made
By Thee and for Thee; and when I was decay’d,
Thy blood bought that, the which before was Thine.
I am Thy son, made with Thyself to shine;        5
Thy servant, whose pains Thou hast still repaid;
Thy sheep, Thine image; and till I betray’d
Myself, a temple of Thy Spirit Divine.
Why doth the devil then usurp on me?
Why doth he steal, nay, ravish that’s Thy right?        10
Except Thou rise and for Thine own work fight,
Oh, I shall soon despair, when I shall see
That Thou lov’st mankind well, yet wilt not choose me,
And Satan hates me yet is loth to lose me.