I don't know why I would even consider it when I have this.

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Does it matter that the text changes the Thomas story? In Dunstan's version, Thomas expresses his doubts right to Jesus' face: for him, even seeing isn't enough.

In the gospel account, the apostle expressed his doubts only when Jesus was not before his eyes, and his doubts departed the moment he saw the risen Lord.

Let's see if we can improve on Dunstan's work:

When Thomas saw the risen Lord
he knelt down to adore
Then Jesus said, Don't touch earth's pain,
It only makes it sore.

Hm. No, that won't do.

Adam, I love your "so what" test. Gets to the heart of things, especially when a profusion of "so what" attempts to eclipse beloved and inspired treasures in any given repertoire.

I also agree with Mark's observations on the last stanza. That's the part that stood out to me.

FYI - from Hymnary.com

Sylvia Dunstan

Born in 1955, Sylvia Dunstan attributes her love of song to her grandparents, who kept song alive in the family and entrusted Sylvia's formal musical education to one of the nuns at the local convent. Sylvia began writing songs in the early seventies and soon after met Sister Miriam Theresa Winter, who encouraged her to write songs based on Scripture. Sylvia eventually realized that her talents did not lay with the music and concentrated instead on the lyrics. She was further shepherded and encouraged by Alan Barthel.

Her bachelor degree was earned from York University, and she received graduate degrees in theology and divinity from Emmanuel College, Toronto. In 1980, she was ordained by the Hamilton Conference of the United Church of Canada. During her career she served as a minister, a prison chaplain, and editor of a Canadian worship resource journal, Gathering.

In the summer of 1990 she was invited to lead the annual conference of the Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada in a session exploring her hymnody. That exposure led to the publication of In Search of Hope and Grace. A smaller collection Where the Promise Shines was published after her death in 1994. Many of her hymn texts have been set by contemporary composers.

Sylvia Dunstan died on July 25, 1993, almost four months after being diagnosed with liver cancer. She left behind a ministry that combined a compassionate concern for the needy and distraught with a consuming love of liturgy.

Once I was writing this hymn about the Wedding Feast at Cana. It included some ideas that I'm pretty sure were true, and interesting, and in places the hymn worked. But overall it didn't work, and I couldn't find a way to fix it. So I just abandoned it. I do that a lot, with lines of hymns, too. There's just no reason to add to the history of hymnody unless you're going to do it very, very well.

What do you think of the rhymes in Dunstan's text? There are sixteen lines of text, and just two authentic rhymes.

I don't mind the approximate rhyme of "God/abroad" in verse four, but verse three has "bears/spear". This isn't really considered a rhyme, is it? Or is there a trend in which unrhymed poetry is accepted for hymn writing?

(admin note:) I hope readers don't mind if I take out some digression comments.

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I fail to see it as a mere retelling of that story. "Thomas" is not mentioned, I think, intentionally.

Forgive me, Fr., but I don't believe my remarks suggested that was the total summary of the Dunstan text. I tried to communicate that same conclusion of yours, a personal encounter with the Risen Christ that used more visceral language than Hopkins in ADORO. I can't speak to the author's intent unknowingly. I can agree that we all can likely benefit by the two differing perspectives: 1. Hopkins: I am not like Thomas; and 2. Dunstan: I am like Thomas.
However, because of Christ's conclusive declaration, "Blessed are those who have not seen, yet still believe," and 2000 years of distance and distillation, I am predisposed to the Hopkins perspective.