Love II
The Fire of Divine Love
A prayer for divine fire to purify earthly desires, draw hearts to God, and restore sight so that all creation bows in praise.
Immortal Heat, let your greater flame draw the lesser to itself. Let those fires that will consume the world first tame it, and kindle in our hearts such true desires. that can consume our lusts and make a way for you.1 Then our hearts will pant for you; then our brain will lay all its invention on your altar, and there in hymns send your fire back again:2 Our eyes will see you—eyes that before saw only dust, dust blown about by cleverness until both went blind. You will recover all your goods in full, you who were dispossessed by a lust that usurped what was yours.34 Every knee will bow to you; every mind will rise and praise the one who made and mended our eyes.
Read the original English
IMmortall Heat, O let thy greater flame Attract the lesser to it: let those fires, Which shall consume the world, first make it tame; And kindle in our hearts such true desires,
As may consume our lusts, and make thee way. Then shall our hearts pant thee; then shall our brain All her invention on thine Altar lay, And there in hymnes send back thy fire again:
Our eyes shall see thee, which before saw dust; Dust blown by wit, till that they both were blinde: Thou shalt recover all thy goods in kinde, Who wert disseized by usurping lust:
All knees shall bow to thee; all wits shall rise, And praise him who did make and mend our eies.
Notes
- 1 ↩Early Modern 'make thee way' = clear a path / make way for you (not 'make you a road' in a literal sense).
- 2 ↩'Invention' here means the mind's inventive faculty and devisings, not modern mechanical novelty alone.
- 3 ↩Herbert uses legal property language: 'disseized' means wrongfully stripped of possession; 'in kinde' means restitution in kind—the same goods returned, fully restored. Rendered here as 'dispossessed' and 'fully restored' to keep the legal force without archaic diction.
- 4 ↩Early modern 'wit' is intellect/cleverness, not humor. 'Both' points to eyes and wit left blind by the dust of worldly cleverness—supported by the next stanza's 'wits' and mended 'eies'.
The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere