Poem by Alice Meynell

The Lord's Prayer

"Audemus dicere 'Pater Noster.'" — CANON OF THE MASS.


            There is a bolder way,
There is a wilder enterprise than this
All-human iteration day by day.
Courage, mankind! Restore Him what is His.

            Out of His mouth were given
These phrases. O replace them whence they came.
He, only, knows our inconceivable "Heaven,"
Our hidden "Father," and the unspoken "Name";

            Our "trespasses," our "bread,"
The "will" inexorable yet implored;
The miracle-words that are and are not said,
Charged with the unknown purpose of their Lord.

            "Forgive," "give," "lead us not"—
Speak them by Him, O man the unaware,
Speak by that dear tongue, though thou know not what,
Shuddering through the paradox of prayer.

1. The Spring to the Summer
2. The Launch
3. The Joyous Wanderer
4. The Two Shakespeare Tercentenaries
5. The Two Questions

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