Teach me, my God and King

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see;
And what I do in anything
To do it as for thee.

A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass,
And then the heaven espy.

All may of thee partake;
Nothing can be so mean
Which, with this tincture, FOR THY SAKE,
Will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine.

This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told.

G.Herbert

Ubique ut te sciam
tu, Rex, Deus, doce,
et quidquid ego peragam,
id peragam pro te.

Is qui videt vitrum
ibi oculum premat
aut, ultra dirigens eum:
caelum conspiciat.

Omnes habent tui
partem; vilissima,
suscepta gratia Dei,
fiunt candentia.

Fit gratia Dei
labor? Divinus fit:
qui verrit serviens tibi
pulchrum pulchre facit.

Non alius lapis
in aurum verteret:
quod tractat Deus ipse, quis
minoris aestimet?

MM 26–29.11.97, revised 5.99

Revised May 99