The Soul's Desire to Be with Christ

Del agua de la vida

FOR the living waters
My soul was seized with thirst insatiate,
Yearning to quit
This body and its ills,
And quaff of the eternal waters.

Fain doth it desire
To see itself delivered from these gyves,
For life is tedious
Dragged on in exile
From that dear fatherland of fond delight !

Its present pains increase
By numbering o'er the blessings it has lost ;
And the heart breaks,
Wounded by piercing pain,
Despoiled of the possession of its God.

Happy that soul and blest
Which dwelleth ever present with its God !
Aye, blest a thousandfold,
For from a fount it drinks
Which to the end of time shall never fail !

True fatherland !
Thou solace of the souls that dwell in thee,
Assuaging to the full !
The just no longer weep
Within thy borders, but adore their God.

Our earthly life,
Compared with thee, O never-ending life,
Is so contemptible
That we may truly say it is not life,
But death most burdensome !

O Life curtailed and hard !
When shall I see myself despoiled of thee ?
O narrow sepulchre !
When will the Bridegroom for so long desired
Upraise me from thee ?

O God ! when shall I be
Wholly inflamed with Thy most sacred love ?
Alas, when dawns the day
That I may say farewell to things created
And be transported to Thee in Thy glory ?

When, Love, O when ?
When comes the time I shall enjoy such bliss ?
When comes that ' when '
That I this dross
Forsake, and when such glorious victory ?

When shall I be united
To Thee, good Jesus, with a love so strong
That no incitement of the world,
The flesh, e'en death itself,
Nor eke the devil, can suffice
To break the unison ?

When, O my God, shall I be set on fire
With Thy sweet love's enkindling ?
When shall I enter in at last to joy ?
Or when be offered
Wholly upon love's altar and consumed ?

Oh that without delay
This loving love might all to ashes burn !
Ah, when shall I attain
To that most blessed state,
Never for all eternity to change again ?

My God, my only good,
My glory, and my comfort and my bliss,
Withdraw me from this mire,
This wretched earth,
To dwell in heaven with Thee for evermore !

Let me be one with Thee, my God,
Naught intervening, and withdraw Thou what impedes !
Thaw Thou my coldness,
Which doth now obstruct Thy love,
Curtailing its full measure !

O that Thy love flamed with so fierce a glow
As to consume my heart !
That it dissolved
Or burnt me wholly
And struck from off my soul the body's yoke 1

Ope, Lord, the portal oi Thy love
To this poor wretch !
Give certain hope
Of everlasting love
To this weak, hapless worm of earth 1

Delay Thou not to love
Nor to bestow a puissant love for Thee,
Nor tarry Thou to turn Thine eyes on me,
O God omnipotent,
Who stand for ever present in Thy sight !

Thou bidd'st me call Thee,
And lo, I come with tears and cries to Thee !
Thou bidd'st me love,
And that is my desire !
But Thou, my Lord, till when ? O God ! till when,

Till when, wilt Thou delay to answer me ?
When give to me that love for which I crave ?
Return and gaze on me —
Behold I die —
And yet it seems Thou still dost fly from me.

Ah, Lord eternal
My soul's delight, my glory.
Ah, sempiternal Bounty,
Day serene,
Thou Light, Thou Love, do not Thy grace postpone 1

For Thee I'll sigh
While I am captive in this prison held !
Ne'er will I stay,
Recounting my petitions,
Until Thou hast raised up and crowned me !

If I forget Thee,
My God, my sweetest Love, Who wooest me,
May I into oblivion dark sink down,
Nor of entire creation let there be
One who of me, sad soul, takes any thought !