WHEN I am come before His bar to render The reckoning of how my goods were spent, I may not bear one thing of shining splendor As increase of the talents He hath lent. I may not lay before Him aught of glory, Nor bring the radiant tributes great ones bring — Only an ill-wrought rhyme, a song, a story, Such as the least and lowliest may sing. I hold in trust things of the earth and earthy. As earth demanded I have paid the cost To live with men, the wastrels and the worthy — But He may count it good I have not lost Belief in man and reverence for woman, Even with knowledge of the paths they trod; The trust as of a child in all things human, And, over all, unfaltering faith in God. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ROOM OF MIRRORS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TO MY MOTHER SLEEPING by MARY RUSSELL MITFORD THE ORPHAN BOY'S TALE by AMELIA OPIE THE MOON by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE STRAYED REVELLER by MATTHEW ARNOLD MUCKLE-MOU'D MEG by JAMES BALLANTYNE TO A BUNCH OF GRAPES; RIPENING IN MY WINDOW by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |