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Home  »  The Second Book of Modern Verse  »  The Idol-Maker prays

Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922.

The Idol-Maker prays

GREAT god whom I shall carve from this gray stone

Wherein thou liest, hid to all but me,

Grant thou that when my art hath made thee known

And others bow, I shall not worship thee.

But, as I pray thee now, then let me pray

Some greater god,—like thee to be conceived

Within my soul,—for strength to turn away

From his new altar, when, that task achieved,

He, too, stands manifest. Yea, let me yearn

From dream to grander dream! Let me not rest

Content at any goal! Still bid me spurn

Each transient triumph on the Eternal Quest,

Abjuring godlings whom my hand hath made

For Deity, revealed, but unportrayed!