Menu Close

Ever Present Need

steve-bell-solace-for-seasons-of-suffering-2005     steve-bell-sons-and-daughters

Ever Present Need  – Music by Steve Bell
Lyrics adapted from Daniel Ladinski’s translation of
‘Our Need for Thee’ in Love Poems from God.
Original poem by St. Francis of Assisis.

Darkness is an unlit wick
A simple spark would vanquish it
Truly I could burst to flame
Every time you call my name
Do I do for you the same

God is like a honey bee
Penetrates the soul of me
Dearly draws the sweetness in
Nectar of the meek love is
He in me and I in him

In our ever present need of thee
Grant we fathom peace
Fashion instruments of souls set free
For don’t the cages ones weep

Sometimes sober sometimes bliss
Every union knows of this
But I have stood here in his rain
And bear the marks of fertile plains
Swelling streams and swollen grain

So will I console the fall
Of cheerless creatures great and small
What of sadness can endure
When love divine makes insecure
The crowing claims of shame’s allure

2 Comments

  1. Rick DePola

    Thanks so much for this song, it’s very calming to me these days.

    Enjoyed listening to you in Sioux Falls recently.

    (I hope it doesn’t detract from the above)… there are a couple of typos on the web page text at stevebell.com/2007/06/ever-present-need … The word caged says “cages” …. There is also the word printed as “Dearly” when it is sung as truly.

  2. stephen murphy

    We just used St. Francis poem for a session of Lectio Divina this morning – closing with his song. Thanks so much for bringing this wonderful saint’s poem to life in a new and special way. “God is like a honey bee.” Who else but St. Francis…

Comments are closed.