The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage

Lyrics

Give me my scallop shell of quiet My staff of faith to walk upon My scrip of joy, immortal diet My bottle of salvation My gown of glory, hope's true gage And thus I'll take my pilgrimage Blood must be my body's balmer No other balm will there be given Whilst my soul, like a white palmer Travels to the land of heaven; Over the silver mountains Where spring the nectar fountains; And there I'll kiss The bowl of bliss And drink my eternal fill On every milken hill My soul will be a-dry beforе But after it will ne'er thirst morе; And by the happy blissful way More peaceful pilgrims I shall see That have shook off their gowns of clay And go apparelled fresh like me I'll bring them first To slake their thirst And then to taste those nectar suckets At the clear wells Where sweetness dwells Drawn up by saints in crystal buckets And when our bottles and all we Are fill'd with immortality Then the holy paths we'll travel Strew'd with rubies thick as gravel Ceilings of diamonds, sapphire floors High walls of coral, and pearl bowers From thence to heaven's bribeless hall Where no corrupted voices brawl No conscience molten into gold Nor forg'd accusers bought and sold No cause deferr'd, nor vain-spent journey For there Christ is the king's attorney Who pleads for all without degrees And he hath angels, but no fees When the grand twelve million jury Of our sins and sinful fury 'Gainst our souls black verdicts give Christ pleads his death, and then we live Be thou my speaker, taintless pleader Unblotted lawyer, true proceeder Thou movest salvation even for alms Not with a bribed lawyer's palms And this is my eternal plea To him that made heaven, earth, and sea Seeing my flesh must die so soon And want a head to dine next noon Just at the stroke when my veins start and spread Set on my soul an everlasting head Then am I ready, like a palmer fit To tread those blest paths which before I writ