Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PRAYER by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER

First Line: THE SKY TO-DAY'S AN INFINITE TEMPLE-DOME
Last Line: BEFORE THY GREAT WINDS AND GREY SEAS OF DEATH.
THE sky to-day's an infinite temple-dome
With clouds like wisps of incense here and there:
Before that chasm of light, light's terrible home,
I stand and cry aloud my savage prayer.
Give me joy, O God, joy burning, destroying, bright;
But give me sorrow's yet more withering fire:
Let hard joy crush me beneath its massive weight,
But sorrow release me for despair and desire.
Give me knowledge, O God, a blood-stained, broken sword:
Let Thy curse be the badge and banner I must win.
And let me gain it not untried, ungored,
But sooty with despair and red with sin.
Give me life, O God, give me toil for toil fresh done,
Give me clamour of cities thundering through my brain:
Let me feel vast multitudes dragging me ever on,
Till they overwhelm me, spent with struggle and pain.
Give me song, O God, song that no gold can buy,
Or no fame can debase, mad song of strife:
And be my proud voice lost like a vain sigh
Amid the surging ritual of life.
Give me courage, O God, courage alone above all.
Courage in every heart-beat, every breath:
Courage to battle desperately till I fall
Before Thy great winds and grey seas of death.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net