VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS
MY strength is shifting sand; the waters
Of jealousy meet over my head;
I am scorned and scourged by Satan's daughters;
And crucified on a salt sea bed.
I have prayed to the gods. Oh, little the use!
Thou, greater than God, descend on me.
Thou breath of the deep world, set me free.
Blow from your primal eternity.
Veni Creator Spiritus!
My strength is trodden dust. The claw
Of envy tears me day and night,
And the tawny lion of "Nevermore"
Eats my heart for his delight.
Oh, calm cool breath, your floodgates loose!
Oh, breath of the deep world, set me free.
Oh, greater than God, descend on me.
Blow from your primal eternity.
Veni Creator Spiritus!
My strength is the dregs of poured-out wine.
The dry ground drinks me. The poison-flower
Grows fat with me. The root malign
Of the night-shade waits its baleful hour.
Life is too bitter. "I could not choose
But weep to see another thus."
O breath from beyond the land and sea,
O calm and cool eternity.
Veni Creator Spiritus!
