Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.

By Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849)

Prayer: II. Be not afraid to pray—to pray is right


BE not afraid to pray—to pray is right.
Pray, if thou canst, with hope; but ever pray,
Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay;
Pray in the darkness if there be no light.
Far is the time, remote from human sight,	5
When war and discord on the earth shall cease;
Yet every prayer for universal peace
Avails the blessed time to expedite.
What’er is good to wish, ask that of Heaven,
Though it be what thou can’st not hope to see;	10
Pray to be perfect, though material leaven
Forbid the Spirit so on earth to be;
But if for any wish thou darest not pray,
Then pray to God to cast that wish away.