“now I lay,”—repeat it, darling.
“Lay me,” lisped the tiny lips
Of my daughter, kneeling, bending
O’er her folded finger-tips.
“Down to sleep”—“To sleep,” she murmured,
And the curly head bent low;
“I pray the Lord,” I gently added;
“You can say it all, I know.”
“Pray the Lord”—the sound came faintly,
Fainter...
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed—
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burthen of a sigh,
The falling of a tear—
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try—
Prayer...
WHEN is the time for prayer?
With the first beams that light the morning’s sky,
Ere for the toils of day thou dost prepare,
Lift up thy thoughts on high;
Commend the loved ones to his watchful care:
Morn is the time for prayer!
And in the noontide hour,
If worn by toil, or by sad cares oppressed,
Then unto God...
To prayer, to prayer;—for the morning breaks,
And earth in her Maker’s smile awakes.
His light is on all below and above,—
The light of gladness, and life, and love.
Oh, then, on the breath of this early air
Send upward the incense of grateful prayer.
To prayer;—for the glorious sun is gone,
And the gathering darkness of night comes on...
Not on a prayerless bed, not on a prayerless bed
Compose thy weary limbs to rest;
For they alone are blessed
With balmy sleep
Whom angels keep;
Nor, though by care oppressed,
Or anxious sorrow,
Or thought in many a coil perplexed
For coming morrow,
Lay not thy...
From “Hamlet,” Act III. Sc. 3.
The King. O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,...
Anonymous translation
O GOD! though sorrow be my fate,
And the world’s hate
For my heart’s faith pursue me,
My peace they cannot take away;
From day to day
Thou dost anew imbue me;
Thou art not far; a little while
Thou hid’st thy face, with brighter smile
Thy father-love to show me.
Lord, not my will,...
O God, I cannot walk the Way,—
The thorns, the thirst, the darkness,
And bleeding feet and aching heart!
I hear the songs and revels of the throng,—
They sneer upon my downcast face with scorn,—
Yet, O my God, I must and shall walk with Thee!
O God, I cannot take the Truth!
Far easier honeyed hopes and falsehoods fair,
But Truth...
Translated by Henry Francis Cary
Selections from “The Divine Comedy”
Purgatory: Canto VI.
WHEN I was freed
From all those spirits, who prayed for others’ prayers
To hasten on their state of blessedness;
Straight I began: “O thou, my luminary!
It seems expressly in thy text denied,
That Heaven’s supreme...
Translated by Henry Francis Cary
Selections from “The Divine Comedy”
Purgatory: Canto XI.
“O THOU Almighty Father! who dost make
The heavens thy dwelling, not in bounds confined,
But that, with love intenser, there thou view’st
Thy primal effluence; hallowed be thy name:
Join, each created being, to extol
Thy might; for worthy...
