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| LORD, not for light in darkness do we pray, | |
| Not that the veil be lifted from our eyes, | |
| Nor that the slow ascension of our day | |
| Be otherwise. | |
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| Not for a clearer vision of the things | 5 |
| Whereof the fashioning shall make us great, | |
| Not for the remission of the peril and stings | |
| Of time and fate. | |
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| Not for a fuller knowledge of the end | |
| Whereto we travel, bruised yet unafraid, | 10 |
| Nor that the little healing that we lend | |
| Shall be repaid. | |
| |
| Not these, O Lord. We would not break the bars | |
| Thy wisdom sets about us; we shall climb | |
| Unfetter’d to the secrets of the stars | 15 |
| In Thy good time. | |
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| We do not crave the high perception swift | |
| When to refrain were well, and when fulfil, | |
| Nor yet the understanding strong to sift | |
| The good from ill. | 20 |
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| Not these, O Lord. For these Thou hast reveal’d, | |
| We know the golden season when to reap | |
| The heavy-fruited treasure of the field, | |
| The hour to sleep. | |
| |
| Not these. We know the hemlock from the rose, | 25 |
| The pure from stain’d, the noble from the base, | |
| The tranquil holy light of truth that glows | |
| On Pity’s face. | |
| |
| We know the paths wherein our feet should press, | |
| Across our hearts are written Thy decrees: | 30 |
| Yet now, O Lord, be merciful to bless | |
| With more than these. | |
| |
| Grant us the will to fashion as we feel, | |
| Grant us the strength to labour as we know, | |
| Grant us the purpose, ribb’d and edged with steel, | 35 |
| To strike the blow. | |
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| Knowledge we ask not—knowledge Thou hast lent, | |
| But, Lord, the will—there lies our bitter need, | |
| Give us to build above the deep intent | |
| The deed, the deed. | 40 |
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