O I desire no tongue or pen – Modernized Edition

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[359]





[360]

O I desire no tongue nor pen1No tongue to speak or pen to write.
          but to extol2Praise enthusiastically. his praise;
In which excess I’ll melt away
          ten thousand ways.
 
If we would die unto ourselves
          and all things else but thee,
It would be natural to our souls
          for to ascend and be
 
United to our center dear
          to which our souls would hie,3Hasten.
Being as proper then to us,
          as fire to upward fly.
 
O let us therefore love my God;
          for loves pertains to him,
And let our souls seek nothing else
          but in this love to swim;
 
Till we absorbed by his sweet love
          return from whom we came;
Where we shall melt into that love,
          which joyeth me to name.






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Source: Baker, p. 232; see Bodleian, p. 3 and 6