The Wish of Today

I ask not now for gold to gild

With mocking shine a weary frame;

The yearning of the mind is stilled--

I ask not now for Fame.

A rose-cloud, dimly seen above,

Melting in heaven's blue depths away--

O! sweet, fond dream of human Love!

For thee I may not pray.

But, bowed in lowliness of mind,

I make my humble wishes known--

I only ask a will resigned,

O Father, to thine own!

Today, beneath thy chastening eye,

I crave alone for peace and rest,

Submissive in thy hand to lie,

And feel that it is best.

A marvel seems the Universe,

A miracle our Life and Death;

A mystery which I cannot pierce,

Around, above, beneath.

In vain I task my aching brain,

In vain the sage's thought I scan'

I only feel how weak and vain,

How poor and blind, is man.

And now my spirit sighs for home,

And longs for light whereby to see,

And like a weary child, would come,

O Father, unto Thee!

Though oft, like letters traced on sand,

My weak resolves have passed away,

In mercy lend thy helping hand

Unto my prayer today!