1  How I love Thee, precious Jesus,

       That Thy love laid hold of me;

    Thou hast drawn and wooed and kissed me

       That a lover I may be!

 2  As a company of horses,

       Thou, O Lord, has likened me,

    Strong and swift, with Pharaoh's chariots,

       Full of natural energy.

 3  Just a lover with the dove's eyes

       Fixed on Him and Him alone;

    Changed are all my natural concepts,

       Oh, the Lord in me has grown!

 4  Now a lily of the valley,

       Standing out among the thorns,

    In the Lord alone I'm trusting,

       Of my self-strength I've been shorn.

 5  Make us doves that hide in Thee, Lord;

       Bring us to the secret place.

    There You find our voices sweet, Lord,

       And desire to see our face.

 6  Make us then, Lord, smoking pillars,

       Coming from the wilderness.

    By Thy death and resurrection

       All our natural will suppress.

 7  You desire a couch to rest on —

       We become a rest to Thee;

    Thou the Person in our being,

       Gone our personality.

 8  Now a palanquin You're making —

       Nothing natural You'll allow.

    For Your move and Your expression

       Start this work within us now!

 9  You supply the wood and pillars

       For the structure and support,

    Bottom gold and seat of purple

       For our King of royal court.

 10  Only this, O Lord, we offer

       For Thy palanquin so fine:

    Just our love, so pure and fitted,

       The interior design.

 11  What a sight when our Beloved

       Wears a crown upon His brow;

    Christ, the Church, are now united —

       Boast and glory to Him now!