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Home  »  The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century  »  Catherine Winkworth (1829–1878)

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By II. “O Love, who formedst me to wear”

Catherine Winkworth (1829–1878)

(Angelus, 1657)

O LOVE, who formedst me to wear

The image of Thy Godhead here;

Who soughtest me with tender care

Through all my wanderings wild and drear;

O Love, I give myself to Thee,

Thine ever, only Thine to be.

O Love, who ere life’s earliest dawn

Thy choice on me hast gently laid;

O Love, who here as man wast born,

And wholly like to us wast made;

O Love, I give myself to Thee,

Thine ever, only Thine to be.

O Love, who once in Time wast slain,

Pierced through and through with bitter woe;

O Love, who wrestling thus didst gain

That we eternal joy might know;

O Love, I give myself to Thee,

Thine ever, only Thine to be.

O Love, of whom is truth and light,

The Word and Spirit, life and power,

Whose heart was bared to them that smite,

To shield us in our trial hour;

O Love, I give myself to Thee,

Thine ever, only Thine to be.

O Love, who thus hast bound me fast,

Beneath that gentle yoke of Thine;

Love, who hast conquered me at last,

And rapt away this heart of mine;

O Love, I give myself to Thee,

Thine ever, only Thine to be.

O Love, who lovest me for aye,

Who for my soul dost ever plead;

O Love, who didst my ransom pay,

Whose power sufficeth in my stead,

O Love, I give myself to Thee,

Thine ever, only Thine to be.

O Love, who once shalt bid me rise

From out this dying life of ours;

O Love, who once o’er yonder skies

Shalt set me in the fadeless bowers;

O Love, I give myself to Thee,

Thine ever, only Thine to be.