The Commonwealth

A DAILY PRAYER

Unworded oft, this is my daily prayer;

May I bide long, Life is so fair,

Its gifts so good;

And everywhere,

However dimly understood,

From asking earth to answering sky

Love's breath--I feel in the air,

Love's voice-I hear it in reply

Thro' song and bloom, in light and shade

Oh, sweet the world the Lord hath made

And we His helper in its care.

This then my daily prayer;

May I bide long in mortal tenement

If there be also granted unto me

The zest of life with all its keen intent;

My westward windows shining clean and clear

Against the heaven's blue

And all the sun lit world of minstrelsy

And fragrance wafted through

The open ways of sense and sound;

but ere

The frost is on the pane the doors drift shut.

And shivering winds are creeping coldly near,

And ashes strew the hearth where warmth is not-

Dear Lord. the dream of it doth pallor bring,

And pain I could not wish to keep-

So when that hour shall come apace

Send down thine angel of the swiftest wing

To take me from the dreary place

Through the sweet Vale of Sleep.