Let Me Lose Count

LET me lose count of all my sorrows, Lord,
And even my joys; oh, let me number not
These, nor measure out my lot;
Nor say, ’Here it fell short,’ ‘There it was large or small,’
‘Here did the mercies thick or scantly fall.'
Teach me to watch the countless heavens instead
Unnumberèd;
Who reckoneth thy stars?

Let me not measure anything; — nor this
The cup that in my shaken hand holds all
The sweet of life, and all life’s bitterness;
Let me not call its bowl
Or deep or shoal;
Calm, unafraid,
Teach me to look upon the Sea which Thou hast made;
Who soundeth it or plumbeth it, O Lord?

Let me not weigh the gift I give or take;
Nor call one great, nor mourn the other small; —
Exalt, abase myself nor any man. Lord, break,
Break Thou my measurements,
And put them far from me.
Take numbers, measures, reckonings away;
Leave me instead the countless stars, the boundless Sea,
The imponderable Night, the veiled and gifted Day,
And Death beneficent that waits on Thee —
Thee, Lord, whose gifts no man may mete nor weigh;
Who measureth Thy love and mercy, Lord?