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| I DO not look for holy saints to guide me on my way, | |
| Or male and female devilkins to lead my feet astray. | |
| If these are added, I rejoice—if not, I shall not mind, | |
| So long as I have leave and choice to meet my fellow-kind. | |
| For as we come and as we go (and deadly-soon go we!) | 5 |
| The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me! | |
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| Thus I will honour pious men whose virtue shines so bright | |
| (Though none are more amazed than I when I by chance do right), | |
| And I will pity foolish men for woe their sins have bred | |
| (Though ninety-nine per cent. of mine I brought on my own head). | 10 |
| And, Amorite or Eremite, or General Averagee, | |
| The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me! | |
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| And when they bore me overmuch, I will not shake mine ears, | |
| Recalling many thousand such whom I have bored to tears. | |
| And when they labour to impress, I will not doubt nor scoff; | 15 |
| Since I myself have done no less and—sometimes pulled it off. | |
| Yea, as we are and we are not, and we pretend to be, | |
| The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me! | |
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| And when they work me random wrong, as oftentimes hath been, | |
| I will not cherish hate too long (my hands are none too clean). | 20 |
| And when they do me random good I will not feign surprise. | |
| No more than those whom I have cheered with wayside charities. | |
| But, as we give and as we take—whate’er our takings be— | |
| The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me! | |
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| But when I meet with frantic folk who sinfully declare | 25 |
| There is no pardon for their sin, the same I will not spare | |
| Till I have proved that Heaven and Hell which in our hearts we have | |
| Show nothing irredeemable on either side the grave. | |
| For as we live and as we die—if utter Death there be— | |
| The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me! | 30 |
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| Deliver me from every pride—the Middle, High, and Low— | |
| That bars me from a brother’s side, whatever pride he show. | |
| And purge me from all heresies of thought and speech and pen | |
| That bid me judge him otherwise than I am judged. Amen! | |
| That I may sing of Crowd or King or road-borne company, | 35 |
| That I may labour in my day, vocation and degree, | |
| To prove the same in deed and name, and hold unshakenly | |
| (Where’er I go, whate’er I know, whoe’er my neighbour be) | |
| This single faith in Life and Death and to Eternity: | |
| “The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!” | 40 |
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