378 The Quaker Poet’s Prayer
John Greenleaf Whittier, 1872.
Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our feverish ways; Reclothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives Thy service find, In deeper reverence, praise. | In simple trust like theirs who heard, Beside the Syrian sea, The gracious calling of the Lord, Let us, like them, without a word Rise up and follow Thee. | O Sabbath rest by Galilee! O calm of hills above, Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee The silence of eternity Interpreted by love. | Drop Thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace. | Breathe through the heat of our desire Thy coolness and Thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire, Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, O still, small voice of calm. | |