University of Virginia Library


178

DE PROFUNDIS

God my Father, and dare I say,
‘Out of the deeps I cry to-day?’
Are they not shallows, these deeps of mine;
Shallows wherein all unafraid,
A little ungrown soul might wade
Over to gain that rest of Thine?
Shallows or deeps, whichever they be,
I am whelmed in their horror verily,
And beaten upon by their wild salt foam;
Only sometimes, behind, behind,
And not in my face, is the master wind
Which blows me nearer the shore of home.
Oh, shall I ever gain that shore?
Will the wind set, and for evermore
Beat me back, till at last I fall
To rise not again, and the ebbing tide
Bear me away, who in vain have cried
To Thee, who seest and knowest all?