| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | | “When daily I kneel down to pray” | | By Jane Taylor (1783–1824) |
| | | WHEN daily I kneel down to pray, | |
| As I am taught to do, | |
| God does not care for what I say | |
| Unless I feel it too. | |
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| Yet foolish thoughts my heart beguile; | 5 |
| And when I pray or sing, | |
| I’m often thinking all the while | |
| About some other thing. | |
| |
| Some idle play, or childish toy, | |
| Can send my thoughts abroad; | 10 |
| Though this should be my greatest joy— | |
| To love and seek the Lord. | |
| |
| Oh! let me never, never dare | |
| To act the trifler’s part; | |
| Or think that God will hear a prayer | 15 |
| That comes not from my heart. | |
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| But if I make His ways my choice, | |
| As holy children do, | |
| Then, while I seek Him with my voice, | |
| My heart will love Him too. | 20 | | | |
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