THE MOST BEAUTIFUL POEM I’VE EVER READ

One of my most prized possessions is a tatty old book, published in 1942, called PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES. It is a compilation of poems (some by famous poets, others anonymous) essays and humorous quips. There is one poem in there, which as far as I’m concerned, is the most beautiful I’ve ever read, and seeing that we are approaching the New Year, I thought it would be apt to post it here and on the blogs site. Here is is:

PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR TO COME
by Elsie Robinson.

Great Power that set a little decency alight
Within this mass of flesh and bone I call myself,
Hear now the prayer I make for this new year to come.

I ask not now for wisdom, for I find
I do not use the little that I have;
Nor do I ask for power, for I fear
The brute in me, that uses power as a club ;
Nor riches, for I know full well that I
Receive all that I earn, and maybe more.
I asked for these things once, in years gone by,
And, in a measure, they have all been mine;
Each gift I craved was granted unto me
As all things that we crave are granted from your store –
But if you have a face, Great Power, I know you smiled
As from that store you gave the thing I craved,
For well you knew it would not fill my heart
Nor make for beauty in my stupid hands.
So now, with clearer vision and a humbler heart
I come to beg for that one precious boon –
Which is, I think the greatest gift of all –
Help me to be kind!
Help me be kind in motive and in deed,
Help me be kind in my most secret thought,
In every touch I make on other lives,
In every contact which they press on me.
Cleanse all the stinging rancor from my wit,
Purge me of envy, greed and smulf self-righteousness.
Make me remember only my own weakness, my own sin,
When fools and sinners ask some boon of me.
Help me be kind!
Not with the patronizing pity that’s a lash
At self-respect, nor with a pride
That crushes those who show their need to me,
But with the constant knowledge that whate’er I have
Of strength or money, wit or cleverness,
Belongs to them as much as it belongs to me.
For all of it has come from out your store,
And those who give or take are brothers in your sight.
And when I meet with scorn and ridicule,
When I am tricked by my own malice or stupidity
And stand ashamed, besmirched before the sneering eyes of men,
Help me to keep my spirit sweet in that dark hour,
Hold back my temper, make me tolerant and sane
To those that hurt me, as to those that I might hurt
Help me be kind!

Great Power, who made me from the common clay,
Yet breathed into that clay a flash of godlike fire,
Breathe now again, to light me through the year, and warm
My cold, hard spirit with that pure white ray of your own kindness
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