O Love, who formedst me to wear
The image of thy Godhead here;
Who soughtest me with tender care
Through all my wanderings wild and drear:
O Love, I give myself to thee,
Thine ever, only thine to be.

O Love, who ere life's earliest dawn
On me thy choice hast gently laid:
O Love, who here as Man wast born,
And wholly like to us wast made:
O Love, I give myself to thee,
Thine ever, only thine to be.

O Love, who once in time wast slain,
Pierced through and through with bitter woe;
O Love, who wrestling thus didst gain
That we eternal joy might know:
O Love, I give myself to thee,
Thine ever, only thine to be.

O Love, who once shalt bid me rise
From out this dying life of ours;
O Love, who once o'er yonder skies
Shalt set me in the fadeless bowers
O Love, I give myself to thee,
Thine ever, only thine to be.


J. Scheffler
tr. Catherine Winkworth