William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.
Litany to the Holy SpiritRobert Herrick (15911674)
I
When temptations me oppress,
And when I my sins confess,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
Sick in heart and sick in head,
And with doubts discomforted,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
And the world is drown’d in sleep,
Yet mine eyes the watch do keep,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
And the furies in a shoal
Come to fright a parting soul,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
And the comforters are few,
And that number more than true,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
And I nod to what is said,
’Cause my speech is now decay’d,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
Either with despair or doubt;
Yet before the glass be out,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
With the sins of all my youth,
And half-damns me with untruth,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
Fright mine ears and fright mine eyes,
And all terrors me surprise,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
And that open’d which was seal’d,
When to Thee I have appeal’d,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!