O Dieu, purifiez nos cceurs! <br />Purifiez nos coeurs ! <br /> <br />Yea the lines hast thou laid unto me <br />in pleasant places, <br />And the beauty of this thy Venice <br />hast thou shown unto me <br />Until is its loveliness become unto me <br />a thing of tears. <br /> <br />O God, what great kindness <br />have we done in times past <br />and forgotten it, <br />That thou givest this wonder unto us, <br />O God of waters? <br /> <br />O God of the night, <br />What great sorrow <br />Cometh unto us, <br />That thou thus repayest us <br />Before the time of its coming? <br /> <br />O God of silence, <br />Purifiez nos cœurs, <br />Purifiez nos cœurs, <br />For we have seen <br />The glory of the shadow of the <br />likeness of thine handmaid, <br /> <br />Yea, the glory of the shadow <br />of thy Beauty hath walked <br />Upon the shadow of the waters <br />In this thy Venice. <br />And before the holiness <br />Of the shadow of thy handmaid <br />Have I hidden mine eyes, <br />O God of waters. <br /> <br />O God of silence, <br />Purifiez nos cœurs, <br />Purifiez nos cœurs, <br />O God of waters, <br />make clean our hearts within us, <br />For I have seen the <br />Shadow of this thy Venice <br />Floating upon the waters, <br />And thy stars <br /> <br />Have seen this thing, out of their far courses <br />Have they seen this thing, <br />O God of waters, <br />Even as are thy stars <br />Silent unto us in their far-coursing, <br />Even so is mine heart <br />become silent within me. <br /> <br />Purifiez nos cœurs, <br />O God of the silence, <br />Purifiez nos cœurs, <br />O God of waters.<br /><br />Ezra Pound<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/night-litany/
