John Jay Chapman

A Prayer

O GOD when the heart is warmest, And the head is clearest, Give me to act: To turn the purposes thou formest Into fact. O God, when what is dearest Seems most dear, And the path before lies straight, With neither Chance nor Fate In my career,— Then let me act. The wicket gate In sight, let me not wait, not wait. We do not always fight. There comes a dull And anxious watching. After night Follows dim dawn before the day is full. But there's a time to speak, as to be dumb. O God, when mine shall come, And I put forth My strength for blame or praise, Blow Thou the fire in my heart's hearth Into a blaze— (Who kindled it but Thou? ) And let me feel upon that first of days As I feel now.