1 One thing I of the Lord desire,
For all my path hath miry been,
Be it by water or by fire,
O make me clean, O make me clean.

Refrain:
So wash me, Thou, without, within,
Or purge with fire, if that must be,
No matter how, if only sin
Die out in me, die out in me.

2 If clearer vision Thou impart,
Grateful and glad my soul shall be;
But yet to have a purer heart
Is more to me, Is more to me. [Refrain]

3 Yea, only as this heart is clean
May larger vision yet be mine,
For mirrored in its depths are seen
The things divine, the things divine. [Refrain]

4 I watch to shun the miry way,
And stanch the springs of guilty thought;
But, watch and struggle as I may,
Pure I am not, Pure I am not. [Refrain]