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Let me love and not be requited.
Let me serve and not be rewarded.
Let me labor and not be remembered.
Let me suffer and not be regarded.
Let me pour wine, while I drink not.
Let me break bread, while I keep not,
Pour my life out that others be blessèd,
Be in suff'ring that they be contented.
None to pity me or care for me,
None to praise me or to console me.
I would rather be desolate, wretched,
Lonely, friendless, and wrongly treated.
With my blood and tears pay the price to gain the crown,
Suffer loss that I might a pilgrim's life live out,
For, Lord, this is how You lived Your life
when You walked on this earthly sphere,
Gladly bore all loss that those who drew near
Could be freed from all suffering and fear.
I know not how far the future lies ahead.
On this path of no retreating I am led.
So, Lord, let me now learn from Your perfect pattern,
Suff'ring wrong, no resentment in return.
May You in this difficult, tedious day,
All my tears shed in secret wipe away;
Learning You are my only solacement,
And let my life for others' joy be spent.
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