• Keep me, I pray, in wisdom’s way,
      That I may truths eternal seek;
    I need protecting care to-day,—
      My purse is light, my flesh is weak.
    So banish from my erring heart
      All baleful appetites and hints
    Of Satan’s fascinating art,
      Of first editions, and of prints.
    Direct me in some godly walk
      Which leads away from...

  • I crave, dear Lord,
    No boundless hoard
      Of gold and gear,
        Nor jewels fine,
        Nor lands, nor kine,
    Nor treasure-heaps of anything.—
        Let but a little hut be mine
    Where at the hearthstone I may hear
        The cricket sing,
        And have the shine
      Of one glad woman’s eyes to make,
      For my poor sake,...

  • Dear lord! kind Lord!
      Gracious Lord! I pray
    Thou wilt look on all I love,
      Tenderly to-day!
    Weed their hearts of weariness;
      Scatter every care,
    Down a wake of angel wings
      Winnowing the air.

    Bring unto the sorrowing
      All release from pain;
    Let the lips of laughter
      Overflow again;
    And with...

  • On the isle of Penikese,
    Ringed about by sapphire seas,
    Fanned by breezes salt and cool,
    Stood the Master with his school.
    Over sails that not in vain
    Wooed the west-wind’s steady strain,
    Line of coast that low and far
    Stretched its undulating bar,
    Wings aslant along the rim
    Of the waves they stooped to skim,
    Rock...