April 28, 2014

Poem: De Profundis (Out of My Soul's Depths)

De Profundis by Horatio Walker - Courtesy of Wikipedia

De Profundis is by the English composer, poet, and physician: Thomas Campion (1567-1620). It is a paraphrase of Psalm 130 (129) and takes it's Latin title from the opening line of the Vulgate translation of that same penitential psalm. De Profundis was first published in Campion's Two Bookes of Ayres (1613?). It is included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974).

DE PROFUNDIS by Thomas Campion, 1613? (Public Domain)

Out of my soul's depths to thee my cries have sounded;
Let thine ears my plaints receive, on just fear grounded.
Lord, should'st thou weigh our faults, who' not confounded?

But with grace thou censur'st thine when they have erred,
Therefore shall thy blessed name be loved and feared.
E'en to thy throne my thoughts and eyes are reared.

Thee alone my hopes attend, on thee relying;
In thy sacred word I'll trust, to thee fast flying,
Long ere the watch shall break, the morn decrying.

In the mercies of our God who live securéd,
May of full redemption rest in him assuréd,
Their sin-sick souls by him shall be recuréd.

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