This is one of my all-time favorite poems and prayers, from a man well-acquainted with God, and with sin. Regarding sin, who cannot agree with his refrain, “I have more”.
Yet it ends in hope and freedom from fear, which is precisely the destination of journey of Lent that we begin today. May we all ‘make a good Lent’!
A Hymn to God the Father
BY JOHN DONNE
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.
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