Oh, turn me, mold me, mellow me for use!

Oh, turn me, mold me, mellow me for use!


Pervade my being with Thy vital force,

That this else inexpressive life of mine

May become eloquent and full of power,

Impregnated with life and strength divine....

I cannot raise the dead, nor from this soil

'Pluck precious dust, nor bid the sleepers wake,

Nor still the storm, nor bend the lightning back,

Nor muffle up the thunder,

Nor bind the Evil One, nor bid the chain

Fall from creation's long-enfettered-limbs;

But I can live a life that tells on other lives, and makes

This world less full of evil and of pain-

A life, which like a pebble dropped at sea,

Sends its wide circles to a hundred shores.

Let such be mine! Creator of true life!

Thyself the life Thou givest, give Thyself,

That Thou mayst dwell in me, and I in Thee.

Amen.

Horatius Bonar n808 - 1887)