Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Morning Prayer

Let me to-day do something that shall take
A little sadness from the world’s vast store, 
And may I be so favoured as to make
Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more.
Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed
Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend; 
Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need, 
Or sin by silence when I should defend.
However meagre be my worldly wealth, 
Let me give something that shall aid my kind –
A word of courage, or a thought of health, 
Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.
Let me to-night look back across the span
‘Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say –
Because of some good act to beast or man –
“The world is better that I lived today.”

1. At the Boro Boedoer
2. Sonnets of Sorrow. 18. The wise ones tell me that my heart's wild clamour
3. Applause
4. The Beggar Cat
5. Bless the Babies

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