| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 244. Desiderium Indesideratum |
| By Francis Thompson (1859–1907) |
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| O GAIN that lurk’st ungainèd in all gain! | |
| O love we just fall short of in all love! | |
| O height that in all heights art still above! | |
| O beauty that dost leave all beauty pain! | |
| Thou unpossessed that mak’st possession vain, | 5 |
| See these strained arms which fright the simple air, | |
| And say what ultimate fairness holds thee, Fair! | |
| They girdle Heaven, and girdle Heaven in vain; | |
| They shut, and lo! but shut in their unrest. | |
| Thereat a voice in me that voiceless was:— | 10 |
| ‘Whom seekest thou through the unmarged arcane, | |
| And not discern’st to thine own bosom prest?’ | |
| I looked. My claspèd arms athwart my breast | |
| Framed the august embraces of the Cross. | |
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