| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 84. From ‘The Soul’s Travelling’ |
| By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
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| GOD, God! | |
| With a child’s voice I cry, | |
| Weak, sad, confidingly— | |
| God, God! | |
| Thou knowest, eyelids, raised not always up | 5 |
| Unto Thy love (as none of ours are), droop | |
| As ours, o’er many a tear! | |
| Thou knowest, though Thy universe is broad, | |
| Two little tears suffice to cover all: | |
| Thou knowest, Thou, who art so prodigal | 10 |
| Of beauty, we are oft but stricken deer | |
| Expiring in the woods—that care for none | |
| Of those delightsome flowers they die upon. | |
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| O blissful Mouth which breathed the mournful breath | |
| We name our souls, self-spoilt!—by that strong passion | 15 |
| Which paled Thee once with sighs,—by that strong death | |
| Which made Thee once unbreathing—from the wrack | |
| Themselves have called around them, call them back, | |
| Back to Thee in continuous aspiration! | |
| For here, O Lord, | 20 |
| For here they travel vainly,—vainly pass | |
| From city-pavement to untrodden sward, | |
| Where the lark finds her deep nest in the grass | |
| Cold with the earth’s last dew. Yea, very vain | |
| The greatest speed of all these souls of men | 25 |
| Unless they travel upward to the throne | |
| Where sittest THOU, the satisfying ONE, | |
| With help for sins and holy perfectings | |
| For all requirements—while the archangel, raising | |
| Unto Thy face his full ecstatic gazing, | 30 |
| Forgets the rush and rapture of his wings. | |
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