soulcomplains

1.
Glowing and flaming, refuge finding none,
My heart is fettered fast, it cannot flee;
It is consumed, like wax set in the sun;
Living, yet dying, swooning passionately,
It prays for strength a little way to run,
Yet in this furnace must it bide and be:
Where am I led, ah me!
          To depths so high?
          Living I die,
So fierce the fire of Love.

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2.
Before I knew its power, I asked in prayer
For love of Christ, believing it was sweet;
I thought to breathe a calm and tranquil air,
On peaceful heights, where tempests never beat.
Torment I find, instead of sweetness there!
My heart is riven by the dreadful heat:
Of these strange things to treat
           All words are vain:
           By bliss I am slain,
And yet I live and move.

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3.
For I have lost my heart, my will, my wit,
My hopes, desires, my pleasures and my taste;
Beauty seems vile, corruption crawls on it,
Riches, delights and honours all are waste:
-A Tree of Love, with fruits both fair and fit
To feed me, in my heart is rooted fast,
It flings away in haste
           All it can find,
           Will, strength and mind:
With Love in vain I strove.

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4.
More would I love, if more were possible:
Yet can I give no more than all my heart;
I give my all,- my life, my soul, my will,
Nor needs it proof that all is more than part.
I give thee all, O Lover Terrible-
Take all, fresh life forever to impart:
           Yea, I have found Thee,
           Soft light around Thee,
And whiter than the dove.

5.
Gazing on Thee, Thou Bright and Morning Star,
I am led far, I know not where I be;
My heart is melted like a waxen bar,
That molded in Christ�s image it might be:
O Christ, Thy barters keen and wondrous are!
I am stript naked, to be dressed in Thee:
My heart transformed in me,
           My mind lies dumb,
           To see Thee come,
In sweetness and in Love.

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6.
So linked with that sweetness is my mind,
It leans and strains, its Lover to embrace:
And all in him and naught in self to find,
It learns, by gazing ever on His face.
Riches, and powers, and memories strong to bind,
It casts away, as burdens in the race;
It hath no resting-place,
           No will, no care:
           It mounts the stair,
Towards which its being strove.

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7.
In Christ transformed, almost my soul is Christ;
Conjoined with God, all, all is now divine,
So great, so high, its marvelous aquist-
-Possessing, Jesu, all that once was Thine:
Nor need I now, set free from mortal mist,
Ask medicine for guilt that once was mine;
No more in grief I pine,
           My sinful soul
           Is purged and whole,
Yea, it is cleansed and shrove.

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8.
Now, a new creature, I in Christ am born,
The old man stripped away;- I am new-made;
And mounting in me like the sun at morn,
Love breaks my heart, even as a broken blade:
Christ, First and Only Fair, from me hath shorn
My will, my wit, and all that in me stayed,
I in His arms am laid,
           I cry and call-
           �O thou my All,
O let me die of Love!�

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9.
For Thee, O Love, my heart consumes away,
I cry, I call, I yearn for Thy caress,
Living, I perish when Thou doest not stay,
Sighing and mourning for my Blessedness:
Dost thou return, I strain and strive and pray,
To lose amidst Thine All my nothingness:
Then tarry not to bless,
           Love, think on me:
           Bind me to Thee,
Consume my heart with Love!

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