Ten Times More

I love Thy skies, Thy sunny mists,
   Thy fields, Thy mountains hoar,
Thy wind that bloweth where it lists--
   Thy will, I love it more.

I love Thy hidden truth to seek
   All round, in sea, on shore;
The arts whereby like gods we speak--
   Thy will to me is more.

I love Thy men and women, Lord,
   The children round Thy door;
Calm thoughts that inward strength afford--
   Thy will than these is more.

But when Thy will my life doth hold
   Thine to the very core,
The world, which that same will doth mould,
   I love, then, ten times more!

(a prayer by George MacDonald, from Poetical Works, Vol. 1)