Listlessly wending
Each to the ending,
Omens portending
Grim Nemesis near.
Through regions where sadness
Commingles with madness,
We find less of gladness
Each desolate year.
PRAYER IN PAIN
O KINDLY Higher Powers
Of other spheres than ours
We kneel to you for succour
In these our woeful hours!
And though the sceptic jeer,
The carping cynic sneer,
We call to you for solace
And know that you will hear.
You lust not for vain praise
As in the former days
The founders of our failing creeds
Misread your gracious ways.
You only look to find
Sweet charity of mind
From each of us to all of us,
Nor care though we be blind.
But give us strength to bear
The weariness and care,
The myriad miseries
To which frail flesh is heir.
O kindly Higher Powers
Of rarer spheres than ours,
We kneel to you contritely
In these our woeful hours!
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