[I thank thee God, that I have lived]
1 I thank thee God, that I have lived
2 In this great world and known its many joys:
3 The songs of birds, the strong sweet scent of hay,
4 And cooling breezes in the secret dusk;
5 The flaming sunsets at the close of day,
6 Hills and the lovely, heather-covered moors;
7 Music at night, and moonlight on the sea,
8 The beat of waves upon the rocky shore
9 And wild white spray, flung high in ecstasy;
10 The faithful eyes of dogs, and treasured books,
11 The love of Kin and fellowship of friends
12 And all that makes life dear and beautiful.
13 I thank Thee too, that there has come to me
14 A little sorrow and sometimes defeat,
15 A little heartache and the loneliness
16 That comes with parting and the words 'Good-bye';
17 Dawn breaking after weary hours of pain,
18 When I discovered that night's gloom must yield
19 And morning light break through to me again.
20 Because of these and other blessings poured
21 Unasked upon my wondering head,
22 Because I know that there is yet to come
23 An even richer and more glorious life,
24 And most of all, because Thine only Son
25 Once sacrificed life's loveliness for me,
26 I thank Thee, God, that I have lived.
About this text
Author: Elizabeth Craven (née Berkeley)
Themes:
Genres:
blank verse
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Source edition
Gasper, Julia. Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2017.
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.