CORRIGER LES PAROLES

Paroles : Prayer of Columbus

A batter’d and wreck’d old man
Thrown on this savage shore, far far from home
Pent by the sea and dark rebellious brows, twelve dreary months
Sore, stiff with many toils, sicken’d and nigh to death
I take my way along the island’s edge
Venting a heavy heart

I am too full of woe!
Haply I may not live another day;
I cannot rest O God, I cannot eat or drink or sleep
Till I put forth myself, my prayer once more to Thee
Breathe, I bathe myself once more in Thee, commune with Thee
Report myself once more to Thee

Thou knowest my years, my entire life
My long and crowded life of active work, not adoration merely;
Thou knowest the prayers and vigils of my youth
Thou knowest my manhood’s solemn and visionary meditations
Thou knowest I have in age ratified all those vows and strictly kept them
Thou knowest I have not once lost faith nor ecstasy in Thee
In shackles, prison’d, in disgrace, repining not
Accepting all from Thee, as duly come from Thee

All my empires have been fill’d with Thee
My speculations, plans begun, and carried on in thoughts of Thee
Sailing the deep or journeying the land for Thee;
Intentions, purports, aspirations mone, leaving results to Thee