Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.

Anonymous

The Heart’s Chambers


IF 1 I could shut the gate against my thoughts
And keep out sorrow from this room within,
Or memory could cancel all the notes
Of my misdeeds, and I unthink my sin:
How free, how clear, how clean my soul should lie,	5
Discharged of such a loathsome company!

Or were there other rooms without my heart
That did not to my conscience join so near,
Where I might lodge the thoughts of sin apart
That I might not their clam’rous crying hear;	10
What peace, what joy, what ease should I possess,
Freed from their horrors that my soul oppress!

But, O my Saviour, who my refuge art,
Let Thy dear mercies stand ’twixt them and me,
And be the wall to separate my heart,	15
So that I may at length repose me free;
That peace, and joy, and rest may be within,
And I remain divided from my sin.

Note 1. From John Danyel’s “Songs for the Lute, Viol, and Voice.” [back]