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

By Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)

Hymn

 
THEE, God, I come from, to thee go,
All day long I like fountain flow
From thy hand out, swayed about
Mote-like in thy mighty glow.
 
What I know of thee I bless,        5
As acknowledging thy stress
On my being, and as seeing
Something of thy holiness.
 
Once I turned from thee and hid,
Bound on what thou hadst forbid;        10
Sow the wind I would; I sinned:
I repent of what I did.
 
Bad I am, but yet thy child.
Father, be thou reconciled.
Spare thou me, since I see        15
With thy might that thou art mild.
 
I have life left with me still,
And thy purpose to fulfil;
Yes, a debt to pay thee yet:
Help me, sir, and so I will.        20