SAINT OUEN
Oh shrive my soul, Belovèd! Yesterday
I placed two candles, straight and slim and fair
Before a virgin's altar, kneeling there
For our united lives and love to pray.
Around me the cathedral's stillness lay;
The mystery of God was everywhere;
Lifting the misty aisles through incensed air
Uprose the threading pillars, dim and grey.
I placed two candles, straight and slim and fair
Before a virgin's altar, kneeling there
For our united lives and love to pray.
Around me the cathedral's stillness lay;
The mystery of God was everywhere;
Lifting the misty aisles through incensed air
Uprose the threading pillars, dim and grey.
God heard my prayer: and He forgave my need,
If after that day's grace and majesty
I fall and pay my sin with bitter cost;—
You who have taught me prayer again, and creed,
Bend down in dear forgiveness unto me!
Shrive me, Beloved! or my soul is lost.
If after that day's grace and majesty
I fall and pay my sin with bitter cost;—
You who have taught me prayer again, and creed,
Bend down in dear forgiveness unto me!
Shrive me, Beloved! or my soul is lost.