Forsaking All for the True Light

Is thy heart athirst to know
That the King of heaven and earth
Deigns to dwell with man below,
Yea hath stoop’d to mortal birth?
Search the Word with ceaseless care
Till thou find this treasure there.

With the sages from afar
Journey on o’er sea and land,
Till thou see the Morning Star
O'er thy heart unchanging stand;
Then shalt thou behold His face,
Full of mercy, truth and grace.

For if Christ be born within,
Soon that likeness shall appear
Which the heart had lost through sin:
God’s own image fair and clear;
And the soul serene and bright
Mirrors back His heavenly light.

Jesus, let me seek for nought
But that Thou shouldst dwell in me;
Let this only fill my thought,
How I may grow more like Thee
Through this early care and strife,
Through the calm eternal life.

With the wise who know Thee right,
Though the world accounts them fools,
I will praise Thee day and night;
I will order by Thy rules
All my life, that it may be
Fill’d with praise and love of Thee.

[from Winkworth’s Lyra Germanica]