by Jean Starr Untermeyer
TEMPER my spirit, O Lord,
Burn out its alloy,
And make it a pliant steel for thy wielding,
Not a clumsy toy,
A blunt, iron thing in my hands
That blunder and destroy.
‘Temper my spirit, O Lord,
Keep it long in the fire;
Make it one with the flame. Let it share
That up-reaching desire.
Grasp it thyself, O my God,
Swing it straighter and higher!
From:
Anthology of the Worlds Best Poems Volume II (Memorial -- Selected by Edwin Markham)
Copyright ©:
1948 Wm. H. Wise & Co., Inc. New York
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