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Response to Who wrote "A Fool's Prayer"

from ilza (ilza@pobox.com)
I know The fool's prayer - maybe that is the one you are looking for pls let me know . The fool's prayer ( The royal feast was done )

by Edward Rowland Sill - ( 1841 - 1887 )

The royal feast was done, the king

Sought some new sport to banish care,

And to his jester cried, 'Sir Fool,

Kneel now and make for us a prayer! '

The jester doffed his cap and bells,

And stood the mocking court before,

They could not see the bitter smile

Beneath the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee

Upon the monarch's silken stool;

His pleading voice arose: 'O lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!

It is not by guilt, the onward sweep

Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay,

It is by our follies that so long

We hold the earth from heaven away.

These clumsy feet, still in the mire,

Go crushing blossoms without end;

These hard well-meaning hands we thrust

Among the heartstrings of a friend.

The ill-timed truth we might have kept,

Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung!

The words we had not sense to say . . .

Who knows how grandly it had rung!

Our faults no tenderness should ask,

The chastening strips must cleanse them all,

But for our blunders-oh, in shame

Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;

Men crown the knave and scourge the tool

That did his will; But Thou, O Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!'

The room was hushed, in silence rose

The King, and sought his gardens cool,

And walked apart, and murmured low,

'Be merciful to me, a fool! '

(posted 9156 days ago)

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