Prayer

    if, when I kneel to pray,     With eager lips I say: “Lord, give me all the things that I desire,— Health, wealth, fame, friends, brave heart, religious fire, The power to sway my fellow-men at will, And strength for mighty works to banish ill,”—     In such a prayer as this     The blessing I must miss.     Or if I only dare     To raise this fainting prayer: “Thou seest, Lord, that I am poor and weak, And cannot tell what things I ought to seek; I therefore do not ask at all, but still I trust thy bounty all my wants to fill,”—     My lips shall thus grow dumb,     The blessing shall not come.     But if I lowly fall,     And thus in faith I call: “Through Christ, O Lord, I pray thee give to me Not what I would, but what seems best to thee Of life, of health, of service, and of strength, Until to thy full joy I come at length,”—     My prayer shall then avail,     The blessing shall not fail.