 | The Poems of A. C. Benson |  |
124
HOC UNUM CUPIO
I only ask to know it is Thy will,
That Thou hast planned the pain and probed the sore,
That when I welter in dark waves of ill
They were Thy choice before:
That Thou hast planned the pain and probed the sore,
That when I welter in dark waves of ill
They were Thy choice before:
Not some blind beating of insensate might,
That knows not whence or why, but hastens on,
And recks not if its stroke be strong or light,
Nor whom it falls upon;
That knows not whence or why, but hastens on,
And recks not if its stroke be strong or light,
Nor whom it falls upon;
Saying, I know no recompense or stay,
By no faint prayers My favour may be won;
Sometimes I spare the sickening life, or slay
The bud that drinks the sun.
By no faint prayers My favour may be won;
Sometimes I spare the sickening life, or slay
The bud that drinks the sun.
I ask not, answer not: I break or bless:
Think not I come to ease or end thy woe:
Think not thy youth so apt for happiness
Moves Me to let thee go.
Think not I come to ease or end thy woe:
Think not thy youth so apt for happiness
Moves Me to let thee go.
O Father, that we chide Thee, is it well?
I suffer, but I did not ask to be:
And if Thou hurry me from hell to hell,
To shake my hold on Thee,
I suffer, but I did not ask to be:
And if Thou hurry me from hell to hell,
To shake my hold on Thee,
125
I am Thy child, though wrecked in stormy seas,
Sometime my tears shall Thy compassion move;
I can endure Thy bitterest decrees,
If certain of Thy love.
Sometime my tears shall Thy compassion move;
I can endure Thy bitterest decrees,
If certain of Thy love.
| The Poems of A. C. Benson | |