[nukkad] The Fool's Prayer

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A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience. -Doug Larson 
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 by Edward Rowland Sill

The royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer."


The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And knelt the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Beneath the painted grin he wore.


He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose "O Lord
Be merciful to me, a fool!"


"No pity, Lord, could change the heart
The rod must heal the sin; but, Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!


"'Tis not by guilt, the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'Tis by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.


"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heartstrings of a friend.


"The ill-timed truth we might have kept--
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung!
The words we had not strength to say--
Who knows how grandly it had rung?


"Our faults no tenderness should ask,
The chastening strips must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders--on, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.


"Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the knave and scourge the tool
that did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"


The room was hushed; in silence rose
The King, and sought his garden cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low,
"Be merciful to me, a fool."




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