One Thing I of the Lord Desire

One thing I of the Lord desire, For all my path hath miry been: Be it by water or by fire, Oh, make me clean, oh, make me clean!

So wash me, Thou, without, within, Or purge with fire, if that must be; No matter how, if only sin Die out in me, die out in me.

If clearer vision Thou impart, Grateful and glad my soul shall be; But yet to have a purer heart Is more to me, is more to me.

Yea, only as this heart is clean May larger vision yet be mine, For mirrored in its depths are seen The things divine, the things divine.

I watch to shun the miry way, And stanch the springs of guilty thought; But, watch and struggle as I may, Pure I am not, pure I am not.