Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower, Thee will I love, my Hope, my Joy, Thee in Thy works, with all my power, With ardour Time shall n'er destroy. Thee will I love, O Light Divine, So long as life is mine! | Alas! that I so late have known Thee, Who art the Fairest and the Best; Nor sooner for my Lord could own Thee, Our highest Good, our only Rest! Now bitter shame and grief I prove O'er this my tardy love. | I wander'd long in willing blindness, I sought Thee, but I found Thee not, For still I shunn'd Thy beams of kindness, The creature light fill'd all my thought; And if at last I see Thee now, 'T was Thou to me didst bow! | I thank Thee, then, true Sun of heaven, Whofe shining hath brought light to me; I thank Thee, who hast richly given All that could make us glad and free; I thank Thee that my soul is heal'd By what Thy lips reveal'd. | Oh keep me watchful, then, and humble, And suffer me no more to stray, Uphold me when my feet would stumble, Nor let me loiter by the way; Fill all my nature with Thy light, O Radiance strong and bright! | Thee will I love, my Crown of gladness, Thee will I love, my God and Lord, Amid the darkest depths of sadness, Not for the hope of high reward, For Thine own sake, O Light Divine, So long as life is mine. | |