Love! if thy destined sacrifice am I, Come, slay thy victim, and prepare thy fires; Plunged in thy depths of mercy, let me die The death which every soul that lives desires! | I watch my hours, and see them fleet away; The time is long that I have languished here; Yet all my thoughts thy purposes obey, With no reluctance, cheerful and sincere. | To me 'tis equal, whether love ordain My life or death, appoint me pain or ease; My soul perceives no real ill in pain; In ease or health no real good she sees. | One good she covets, and that good alone, To choose thy will, from selfish bias free; And to prefer a cottage to a throne, And grief to comfort, if it pleases thee. | That we should bear the cross is thy command, Die to the world and live to self no more; Suffer, unmoved, beneath the rudest hand, As pleased when shipwrecked as when safe on shore. | |