CHRISTMAS: A PRAYER

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 72, 18 December 1920, Page 14

CHRISTMAS: A PRAYER

(By Elisabeth Stuart Phelps.) Bo born anew, dear Lord, bo born again, Unto tho hunter c' the sono of men I Whose famine is too bitter to be fed By any lower food than aacred bread. Wo thirst for hope and, tasting, drink it i

not. We choke for joy donled a barren lot. We starve for love and starving, throw the

dice That may, or may not, pay love's precious

price. Our trembling hands, Infirm, have lost tha wit ' To grasp Thy lioly cup. Lord, give us Itl Fill it with strength despaired of by ■tin

weak. Fill it with brimrainir rest tho weary seek. - Out of the ohallco let the lonely drink. \ Hestrain tho wild soul crouching on tho

brink • . Of shameful purposes, that no man knows. Watch, Thou, the desert where the desper-

ate goes I Unto white hearts give purity anew; And to the false -the'power to be true. Grant to tho mourning, all uncomforted, Tho conscious coming of their dearest dead. Give to tho friendless, shrinking and apart, the happy throbbing of the Christina! heart.

Is there a flying thing Fluttering. with broken wing . Lord, show ua where it uidca. Lead ua where'er abides Beneath pain's sharpest fang, The moat forgotten, pang Within Thy world to-day; ' I'or that, for that, we pray. For tho bird shot in the bog; For the tortured, writhing dog; The patient, labouring beast That glvcß us most for least; For the soul within the dumb, And for that it may become, For the Bmitten by thn way, Oh, listen, Lord! Wo pray. Be born again, dear Christ. Be born again, Unto the knowledge of the tons of men._ Be horn into the gentle heart that brings Its best. itß strongest, to the weakest things. Be born into tho finest tenderness. That will not burden where it cannot blesß; Be born in the divinest power to feel. That never hurts the nerve it cannot heal.