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by Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515 - 1582)
Translation by Arthur Symons (1865 - 1945)

If, Lord, Thy love for me is strong
Language: English  after the Spanish (Español) 
If, Lord, Thy love for me is strong
As this which binds me unto thee,
What holds me from thee Lord so long,
What holds thee Lord so long from me?
O soul, what then desirest thou?
Lord I would see thee, who thus choose thee.
What fears can yet assail thee now?
All that I fear is but lose thee.
Love's whole possession I entreat,
Lor make my soul thine own abode,
And I will build a nest so sweet
It may not be too poor for God.
A sould in God hidden from sin,
What more desires for thee remain,
Save but to love again,
And all on flame with love within,
Love on, and turn to love again.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Arthur Symons (1865 - 1945), no title, appears in Poems of Arthur Symons, Volume 1, in From Santa Teresa, first published 1914 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Spanish (Español) by Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515 - 1582) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley, Sir (1903 - 1989), "If, Lord, Thy love for me is strong", published 1949 [ alto and string orchestra ], from Four Poems of St. Teresa of Avila, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Andreas Praefcke

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-29
Line count: 17
Word count: 121

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