Poems of Nature (Thoreau)/My Prayer

by Henry David Thoreau

MY PRAYER

Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself;
That in my action I may soar as high
As I can now discern with this clear eye.

And next in value, which thy kindness lends,
That I may greatly disappoint my friends,
Howe'er they think or hope that it may be,
They may not dream how thou 'st distinguished me.

That my weak hand may equal my firm faith,
And my life practise more than my tongue saith;
That my low conduct may not show,
⁠Nor my relenting lines,
That I thy purpose did not know,
⁠Or overrated thy designs.

 

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Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press