Pilgrim's Hymn by Michael Dennis Browne

Pilgrim's Hymn

Even before we call on Your name to ask You, O God,

When we seek for the words to glorify You, You hear our prayer;

Unceasing love, O unceasing love, surpassing all we know.

Glory to the father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Even with darkness sealing us in, we breathe Your name,

And through all the days that follow so fast, we trust in You;

Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace, beyond all mortal dream.

Both now and forever, and unto ages and ages, Amen

(Michael Dennis Browne)

A Hymn To God The Father by John Donne

There is so much grace and comfort in this hymn.   A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER. by John Donne I. WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,     Which was my sin, though it were done before? Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,     And do run still, though still I do deplore?         When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,                     For I have more. II. Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won     Others to sin, and made my sin their door? Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun     A year or two, but wallowed in a score?         When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,                     For I have more. III. I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun     My last thread, I shall perish on the shore ; But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son     Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore ;         And having done that, Thou hast done ;                     I fear no more. Source: Donne, John. Poems of John Donne. vol I. E. K. Chambers, ed. London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 213.

In What Torn Ship by John Donne

I appreciate some poetry, and I've written some of my own occasionally.   Here's one I like.  It's honest, from the heart, and focused on love.

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A Hymn to Christ at the Author's Last Going into Germany

In what torn ship soever I embark,

That ship shall be my emblem of thy Ark;

What sea soever swallow me, that flood

Shall be to me an emblem of thy blood;

Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise

Thy face, yet through that mask I know those eyes,

Which, though they turn away sometimes,

They never will despise.

 I sacrifice this Island unto thee,

And all whom I loved there, and who loved me;

When I have put our seas 'twixt them and me,

Put thou thy sea betwixt my sins and thee.

As the tree's sap doth seek the root below

In winter, in my winter now I go,

Where none but thee, th' Eternal root

Of true Love, I may know.

Nor thou nor thy religion dost control

The amorousness of an harmonious Soul,

But thou wouldst have that love thyself: as thou

Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now,

Thou lov'st not, till from loving more, Thou free

My soul: who ever gives, takes liberty:

O, if thou car'st not whom I love

Alas, thou lov'st not me.

Seal then this bill of my Divorce to All,

On whom those fainter beams of love did fall;

Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be

On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee.

Churches are best for Prayer, that have least light:

To see God only, I go out of sight:

And to 'scape stormy days, I choose

An Everlasting night.