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Show THE FOOL'S PRAYER Tho royal feast was dono; tho king Sought somo now sport to banish care, And to his Jester cried: "Sir Foot, Kneel now nnd make for us a prayer-" The Jester doffed his cap nnd bells And stood tho mocking court before; be-fore; Tbcy could not see the bitter Bmllo Behind the painted grin he wore. He bowed his head and bent bis knee ' Upon tho monarch's silken stool; His pleading voice arose: "O Lord, Re merciful to me, a foolt i "No pity, Lord, could change tho heart From red with wrong to whlto as . I wool; Tho rod must heal tho Bin; but Lord, I Ro merciful to me, a fool! I " 'TIs not by guilt tho onward sweep i Of truth and right, O Lord, we . I stay; .'TIs by our follies that so long I We hold tho earth from Heaven j away. I . "These clumsy feet, still in tho I mire, I Go crushing blossoms without end; Theso hard, well meajilng hands we 'thrust Among the heartstrings of a friend. "The Ill-timed truth we might have kept Who knows how sharp It pierced and Btung? Tho world we had not sense to say Who knows how grandly it had rung! "Our faults no tenderness should ask The chastening stripes must cleanse them all; ' Rut, for our blunders Oh, In shame Before tho oyes of hea,ven wo fall. "Earth bears no balsam for mistakes, I Men crown the knavo and scourge tho tool 'That did his will; but thou, O Lord, Re merciful to me, a fool!1 I The rcom was hushed. In silence I roBe The king, and sought his gardens cool, Any wnlked npnrt and murmured ,, low: "Ro merciful to me, a fool!" Edward U. Hill. m mi |