HUMILITY

Oh God, if I have ever been

So filled with ignorance and sin

That I have dared to use Thy name

In blasphemy, in jest, in shame;

If ever I have dared to flout

Thy works, and mock Thy deeds with doubt,

Thou must forgive me as Thou art divine

For, God, the fault was Thine as well as mine.

Oh, I have used Thee, time on time,

To fill a phrase, to round a rhyme;

But was this wrong? Nay, in Thy heart

Thou knowest the noble theme Thou art...

Was it my fault that as I sung

The daring speech was on my tongue?

Nay; if my singing, God, gave Thee offense,

Thou wouldst have robbed me of the lyric sense.

But dignity hath made Thee dumb,

And so Thou biddest me to come

And be a sonant part of Thee;

To sing Thy praise in blasphemy,

To be the life within the clod

That points the paradox of God.

To chant, beneath a loud and lyric grief,

A faith that flaunts its very disbelief.