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Thou great offended God of love and kindness, We have denied, we have forgotten Thee! With deafer sense endow, enlighten us with blindness, Who, having ears and eyes, nor hear nor see. Bright are the banners on the tents of laughter; Shunned is Thy temple,—weeds are on the path; Yet if Thou leave us, Lord, what help is ours thereafter?— Be with us still,—light not today Thy wrath! Dark were the ways where of ourselves we sought Thee, Anguish, Derision, Doubt, Desire and Mirth; Twisted, obscure, unlovely, Lord, the gifts we brought Thee, Teach us what ways have light, what gifts have worth. Since we are dust, how shall we not betray Thee? Still blows about the world the ancient wind— Nor yet for lives untried and tearless would we pray Thee: Lord let us suffer that we may grow kind! "Lord, Lord!" we cried of old, who now before Thee, Stricken with prayer, shaken with praise, are dumb; Father, accept our worship when we least adore Thee, And when we call Thee not, oh, hear and come! (From Vassar Quarterly, 1917) |