A GLOWWORM in a garden prayed: "I cannot glow! God, Thou hast made Me with an ache to glow; Thy stamp Is on my kin; each has a lamp, Which, as Thou breathest through the night, Goes down and up; I have no light. Unless Thyself within him burn, How should Thy crawling creature learn To trace his circle in the sand Cast rayless from Thy ray-filled hand -- A thing not worth the Maker's mark? Who builds a temple leaves it dark -- Forgets the candle in the shrine? God! Set me glowing! Let me shine!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PEDANTIC LITERALIST by MARIANNE MOORE A MINOR POET by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET I KNOW, I REMEMBER, BUT HOW CAN I HELP YOU by HAYDEN CARRUTH EVERYONE KNOWS WHOM THE SAVED ENVY by JAMES GALVIN INEVITABLY (1) by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DE LITTLE PICKANINNY'S GONE TO SLEEP by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |