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C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Saint Bernard’s Hymn

By Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090/1–1153)

JESU! the very thought of thee

With sweetness fills my breast,

But sweeter far thy face to see

And in thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing nor heart can frame,

Nor can the memory find,

A sweeter sound than thy blest name,

O Savior of mankind!

O hope of every contrite heart!

O joy of all the meek!

To those who fall, how kind thou art,

How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this

Nor tongue nor pen can show.

The love of Jesus, what it is

None but his loved ones know.

Jesu! our only joy be thou,

As thou our prize wilt be!

Jesu! be thou our glory now

And through eternity!