A Prayer for Every Day

Make me too brave to lie or be unkind
   Make me too understanding, too, to mind
   The little hurts companions give and friends
   The careless hurts that no one quite intends
   Make me too thoughtful to hurt others so.

Help me to know
   The inmost hearts of those whom I care,
   Their secret wishes, all the loads they bear,
   That I may add my courage to their own.
May I make lonely folks less alone,

   And happy ones a little happier yet.
   May I forget
   What ought to be forgotten; and recall
   Unfailing, all
   That ought to be recalled, each kindly thing,

   Forgetting what might     sting.
   To all upon my way,
   Day after day,
   Let me be joy, be hope!
Let my life sing!