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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse  »  185. A New Hymn for Solitude

Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917.

Edward Dowden (1843–1913)

185. A New Hymn for Solitude

I FOUND Thee in my heart, O Lord,

As in some secret shrine;

I knelt, I waited for Thy word,

I joyed to name Thee mine.

I feared to give myself away

To that or this; beside

Thy altar on my face I lay,

And in strong need I cried.

Those hours are past. Thou art not mine,

And therefore I rejoice,

I wait within no holy shrine,

I faint not for the voice.

In Thee we live; and every wind

Of heaven is Thine; blown free

To west, to east, the God unshrined

Is still discovering me.