To See Your Face

My Lord and my Creator,
You bear with me and nourish me - be my helper.

I thirst for You, I hunger for You, I desire You,
I sigh for You, I covet You:

I am like an orphan deprived of the presence
of a very kind father,
who, weeping and wailing, does not cease to cling to
the dear face with his whole heart.

So, as much as I can, but not as much as I ought,
I am mindful of Your passion,
Your buffeting, Your scourging,
Your cross, Your wounds,
how You were slain for me,
how prepared for burial and buried;
and also I remember Your glorious resurrection,
and wonderful ascension.

All this I hold with unwavering faith,
and weep over the hardship of exile,
hoping in the sole consolation of Your coming,
ardently longing for the glorious contemplation of Your face.

~Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)