Foolishness

O God, you know my words before I whisper;
you know my need, before the waves can break,
for foolishness that's wiser than my wisdom
and weakness that is stronger than my strength.

If I should fall in darkness, you would see me,
for all my shadows are to you as light.
If I should flee, yet you would come and seek me,
my deepest midnights open to your sight.

My farthest reaches are to you a handsbreadth;
if I am lost beyond them, you are there
encircling still my sunrise and my sunset
to meet me when I am I-know-not-where.

For all my wisdom has availed me nothing,
and all my strength has merely made me tired.
I know the road I took was long and muddy:
Let it still be your hand that is so mired.

Come, bring me back, O God, from edge to center,
and at the spinning stillpoint let me rest,
where wisdom bows down low enough to enter,
and strength slacks like an infant on your breast.

By Berthe Morisot – The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=155921