TE DEUM
A Carthusian at prayer in his cell
YOUR voice (the Church) speaks:
Great God of my life, I will praise
Thee on the three shores of Thy one light.
I will plunge with my song into the sea of Thy glory:
with rejoicing into the waves of Thy power.
Golden God of thy stars, loud God of
Thy storms, flaming
God of Thy fire-spewing mountains,
God of Thy streams and of thy seas, God of all beasts, God of all the cornfields
and of wild roses,
I thank Thee for having awakened us, Lord, I thank Thee to the choirs of Thine
angels.
Be praised for all that lives.
God of thy Son, great God of Thine
eternal compassion, great God of thine erring humanity,
God of all them who suffer, God of all them who die,
brotherly God on our dark spoor:
I thank Thee that Thou hast delivered us, I thank Thee to the choirs of thine angels.
Be praised for our blessedness!
God of Thine own Spirit, flooding in
Thy depths from love to love,
Seething down into my soul,
Rushing through all my chambers, bringing fire to every heart,
Holy Creator of thy new earth:
I thank Thee that I may thank Thee, Lord, I thank Thee to the choirs of Thine
angels.
God of my psalms, God of my harps, God
of my organs, and of my mighty music,
I will sing Thy praises on the three shores to Thy One Light.
I will plunge with my song into the sea of Thy glory:
with shouts of joy into the waves of Thy power.
Gertrude von le Fort, Hymns to the Church
