Sonett-Forum

Prayer

I.

There is an awful quiet in the air,
And the sad earth, with moist imploring eye,
Looks wide ans wakeful al the pondering sky,
Like Patience slow subsiding to Despair.

But see, the blue smoke as a voiceless prayer,
Sole witness of a secret sacrifice,
Unfolds its tardy wreaths, and multiplies
Its soft chameleon breathings in the rare

Capacious ether, -- so it fades away,
And nought is seen beneath the pendent blue,
The undistinguishable waste of day.

So have I dreamed! – oh may the dream be true! –
That praying souls are purged from mortal hue,
And grow as pure as He to whom they pray.




2

Be not afraid to pray – to pray is right.
Pray, if thou canst, with hope; but ever pray,
Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay;
Pray in the darkness, if there be no light.

Far is the time, remote from human site
When war and discord on the earth shall cease;
Yet every prayer for universal peace
Avails the blessed time to expedite.

Whate’er is good to wish, ask that of Heaven,
Though it be what thou canst not hope to see:
Pray to be perfect, though material leaven

Forbid the spirit so on earth to be;
But if for any wish thou darest not pray,
Then pray to God to cast that wish away.