"Love-Song of the Wanderer"

Love-Song of the Wanderer

Christ, I have come, the way has been dreary,
        The stones of the mountain, the mire of the lea,
My feet are bleeding, and I am aweary,
        Let me come back to thee!

Mine eyes were blinded, and I have been groping
        Far thro’ the darkness; yet pity thou me,
For ever I have been struggling and hoping
        For the way back to thee.

Is it too late? The creeds they were preaching
        Carried me on the waves of a sea;
Let me come back to thy pure simple teaching,
        Let me come back to thee!

Lo, at thy door I am kneeling and pleading,
        Hearken, O Christ, to my passionate plea;
I have come far, and my heart is a-bleeding,
        Let me come back to thee!

Let me come in. I will open thy casement
        And sing to the world of thy mercies that be;
Lift me, dear Christ, from my deep self-abasement,
        Let me come back to thee!

Gone is the darkness; the dawn’s palest glimmer
        Flashes its beryl above the dim sea;
Ere the smooth waves in the sunlight shall shimmer,
        Let me come back to thee!

All the night long while others were sleeping,
        No sleep or peace has there been for me;
I have been kneeling and praying and weeping,
        Only to come back to thee!

Let me come in. Ah, the way has been dreary,
        The stones of the mountain, the mire of the lea;
My heart is aching, and I am aweary, 

        Longing to be with thee!

"Love-Song of the Wanderer" as it appears in Ella Higginson's The Voice of April-Land and Other Poems (1903).