New poems by Madison Cawein | ||
119
A PRAYER FOR OLD AGE
I
These are the things which I would ask of Time:When I am old,
Never to feel in soul doubt's spiritual rime;
The heart grow cold
With self; but in me that which warms my time.
II
Never to feel the drouth, the dearth that kills,Before one dies,
Of mind, full-flowering on thought's fertile hills;
But, in my skies,
The falcon, Fancy, that no season kills.
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III
Never to see the shadow at my door,Nor fear its fall;
But wait serenely, whether rich or poor,
Nor care at all,
So Love sits with me at my open door.
IV
Never to have a dream I dreamed destroyed:And towards the last
Live o'er again all that I have enjoyed,—
The happy Past,—
Through these, the dreams, no time has yet destroyed.
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V
Never to lose my love for lowly things;To feel the need
For simple beauty still: each bird that sings,
Each flower and weed
That looks its message of unguessed-at things.
VI
Never to lose my faith in Nature, God:But still to find
Worship in trees; religion in each sod;
And in the wind
Sermons that breathe the universal God.
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VII
Never to age in mind; much less in heart;But keep them young
With song, glad song, that still shall have its part,—
Sung or unsung,—
Within the inmost temple of my heart.
VIII
That I may lose not all my trust in men!And, through it, grow
Nearer to Heaven and God: and softly then
Meet Death and know
He has no terrors for my soul. Amen.
New poems by Madison Cawein | ||