43.) I Don't Ask . . .

I don’t ask for a life of ease, or to beg a crust

Nor do I ask for that which will profit me

But will take from me instead to profit another

It is for a poured-out life, I yearn – more – I plead

That the life in my depths be as the source of a star

For what would I be in this world other than a light?

If my life was not as a burning beacon it was as nothing.

If, I could ask for what I long for, it would be this:

To be a spring – where others could drink from

And be replenished

To be bread – from which any may happily eat

And be strengthened

To be a voice – such as any who hear it might rejoice

And find fit company in inimitable loneliness.

Not only am I fit to serve when I am strong

But when I am weak

This then is my hope, that strength be not my own

For this alone works miracles.

Any influence of power is as much to be felt

In the dark black ebb tides of my life

As in the sunlit days of life upon the flood

The same pull that takes the sea, returns it.

If strength could be received, in return

For faith and hope in these few child-words,

Then would I be full, and my work done.

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