| Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903. | | | | Prayer: II. Be not afraid to pray—to pray is right | | By Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) |
| | | BE not afraid to pray—to pray is right. | |
| Pray, if thou canst, with hope; but ever pray, | |
| Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay; | |
| Pray in the darkness if there be no light. | |
| Far is the time, remote from human sight, | 5 |
| When war and discord on the earth shall cease; | |
| Yet every prayer for universal peace | |
| Avails the blessed time to expedite. | |
| What’er is good to wish, ask that of Heaven, | |
| Though it be what thou can’st not hope to see; | 10 |
| Pray to be perfect, though material leaven | |
| Forbid the Spirit so on earth to be; | |
| But if for any wish thou darest not pray, | |
| Then pray to God to cast that wish away. | | | | |
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