6. - Trust me, I have not earned your dear rebuke

"Or puoi la quantitate

Comprender de l'amor che a te mi scalda."--Dante.

"Non vo' che da tal nodo amor mi scioglia."--Petrarca.

Trust me, I have not earned your dear rebuke,

I love, as you would have me, God the most;

Would lose not Him, but you, must one be lost,

Nor with Lot's wife cast back a faithless look

Unready to forego what I forsook;

This say I, having counted up the cost,

This, though I be the feeblest of God's host,

The sorriest sheep Christ shepherds with His crook,

Yet while I love my God the most, I deem

That I can never love you overmuch;

I love Him more, so let me love you too;

Yea, as I apprehend it, love is such

I cannot love you if I love not Him,

I cannot love Him if I love not you.