Childhood Prayer

O teach me of birds, the brilliant arrows of flight,

For I would soar like them to greet the sun

Then fold my ether-wings of burnished light

To plunge to earth among her trees, then run

And hide my golden form when daylight sleeps.

O teach me of the waters of the sea,

For I would sound their still mysterious deeps,

Their treasure-fields of jewelled artistry,

Then leap above those prism'd depths where rise

On earth the scented lilies of the spring,

Their voices singing to eternal skies

In rapture and in and fragrant offering.

O speak to me of matter's energies

How God creates and why He must destroy,

Of beauty's touch, its fleeting ecstasies,

Why sorrow graces every note of joy.

O teach me too the occult ways of earth,

Whose blossoms all our morning's sanctify,

And how the spirit chooses its next birth,

Why evil is and life and love must die.

I would know Thee as the ultimate delight

Who marks the soul in every mortal face,

Breaks our bread and shares our human plight

And fills each chalice with the wine of grace.