I have been meaning to send to your website this point. It is my favorite poem of them all. It seems I need to put it there for others to see.
The Fool's Prayer
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 stood the mocking court before; They could not see the bitter smile Behind 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 From red with wrong to white as wool; 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 heart-strings of a friend".
"The ill-timed truth we might have kept- Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung? The word we had not sense to say- Who know how grandly it had rung?"
"Our faults not tenderness should ask, The chastening stripes must cleanse them all; But for our blunders-oh, 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 gardens cool, And walked apart, and murmured low, "Be merciful to me, a fool!"