Iii

We know Thee beautiful, We know Thee bitter! Help Thou!--Men's eyes are dull, O God most beautiful! Make thou their souls less full Of things mere glitter. Dost Thou not see our tears? Dost Thou not hear the years Treading our hearts to shards, O Lord of all the Lords?-- Arouse Thee, God of Hosts, There 'mid Thy glorious ghosts, So high and holy! Have mercy on our tears! Have mercy on our years! Our strivings and our fears, O Lord of lordly peers, On us, so lowly!