WHEN I am come before His bar to render The reckoning of how my goods were spent, I may not bear one thing of shining splendor As increase of the talents He hath lent. I may not lay before Him aught of glory, Nor bring the radiant tributes great ones bring — Only an ill-wrought rhyme, a song, a story, Such as the least and lowliest may sing. I hold in trust things of the earth and earthy. As earth demanded I have paid the cost To live with men, the wastrels and the worthy — But He may count it good I have not lost Belief in man and reverence for woman, Even with knowledge of the paths they trod; The trust as of a child in all things human, And, over all, unfaltering faith in God. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TRAGEDY OF VALENTINIAN: THE POWER OF LOVE by JOHN FLETCHER SOJOURN IN THE WHALE by MARIANNE MOORE THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 97. A SUPERSCRIPTION by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI CASTLES by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH SUNRISE TRUMPETS by JOSEPH AUSLANDER |